THE 

HY, WHEN AND HOW 

REVIVALS 
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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



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Why, When, and How 
or Revivals 



By 

BisHop "W. F. Mallalie\x 




NEW YORK, EATON &. MAINS 
CINCINNATI. JENNINGS fit PYE 



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THE" LIBRARY OF 




CONGRESS. 




Two Copies Received 




AUG. 5 1901 




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CLASsA-XXc. N». 

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Copyright by 
EATON : & MAINS 

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CONTENTS 



CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Perilous Times 9 

II. Faith Encouraged 15 

III. Wise and Timely Plans 21 

IV. God's Prompt Response 31 

V. Revival Persistency 41 

-VI. Evangelistic Preaching 47 

VII. Doctrinal Preaching 59 

VIII. Blind Leaders of the Blind 69 

IX. Ambassadors from Heaven's Court 79 

— -X. Special Helps in Revivals 87 

XL Pastoral Visitation 95 

XII. Feeding the Flock 101 

XIII. Looking Out for Strangers in 

XIV. Saving the Children 123 

XV. Sunday School and Epworth League 129 

XVI. Help for the Sorrowing and Suffering 141 

XVII. Securing and Caring for Converts 147 



CHAPTER I 

Perilous Times 



CHAPTER I 
Perilous Times 

Hark, how the watchmen cry! 

Attend the trumpet's sound; 
Stand to your arms, the foe is nigh, 

The powers of hell surround. 
Who bow to Christ's command, 

Your arms and hearts prepare; 
The day of battle is at hand — 

Go forth to glorious war. 

— Charles Wesley, 

O Lord, thy work revive, 

In Zion's gloomy hour, 
And let our dying graces live 

By thy restoring power. 

O let thy chosen few 

Awake to earnest prayer; 
Their covenant again renew, 

And walk in filial fear. 

— Phoebe H. Brown, 

O Lord, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: 
O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in 
the midst of the years make known; in wrath remem- 
ber mercy. — Hab. Hi, 2. 

And when ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars, 
be ye not troubled: for such things must needs be; 
but the end shall not be yet. — Mark xiii, 7. 

9 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, 
be strong. — i Cor. xvi, 13. 

Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able 
to stand against the wiles of the devil. For ye wrestle 
not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, 
against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of 
this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 
— Eph. vi, 11, 12. 

This know also, that in the last days perilous times 
shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own 
selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, dis- 
obedient to parents, unthankful, unholy. — 2 Tim. iii, 1, 2. 

The present hour is a time of bewilderment. 
The world is full of unrest. Christendom 
is in a perilous condition. Turn which way we 
will, we are confronted by portentous clouds 
full of danger and death. These things are so 
for the reason that we are living in a transi- 
tional age. The customs and habits of ages 
have been revolutionized by steam and elec- 
tricity. Knowledge is increased, but private 
morals and civic virtues are far below the 
proper standard. The rum power was never 
more masterful, malignant, and aggressive 
than now. It antagonizes the kingdom of 
Christ constantly, vigorously, and everywhere. 
The dance, the theater, vile pictures, and vile 
literature combine to corrupt and destroy our 
youth. The Sabbath is recklessly desecrated; 

10 



Perilous Times 

the house of God is abandoned, and the Bible 
is despised by millions of our people. Here 
and there are those who occupy chairs in 
schools of theology or pulpits in the churches 
who for the sake of appearing smart align 
themselves with the scoffers and infidels of this 
and other times and countries. Too many 
working people, toilers with hand or brain, 
have taken themselves outside the range of 
Christian influence and more and more are be- 
coming utterly earthy and of the earth. A 
thousand remedies might be proposed for this 
sad and alarming condition of affairs, but in 
all the range of possibilities there is but one 
sure remedy, and that is the living Gospel of 
the Son of God. It will surely destroy sin and 
cure all human ills if it can be put in practice 
in daily life. There is absolutely no call for 
any new truth; the teachings of the Lord Jesus 
Christ meet in the fullest manner all the de- 
mands of these disturbed times. It is absolute- 
ly certain that in the dissemination of these 
teachings there is no occasion for extravagant, 
sensational contrivances. What is needed is 
the plain, simple, intense, persistent presenta- 
tion in all our pulpits of the whole round of 
Gospel truths. Then there must be holy living 

ii 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

on the part of all preachers and professors. In 
these the unbelieving world has a right to de- 
mand an illustration of the reality of Christian 
truth. The example must go with the precept. 
There is nothing like holy living to give em- 
phasis to the Gospel. 

12 



CHAPTER II 

FaitK Encouraged 



CHAPTER II 
Faith Encouraged 

Workman of God ! O lose not heart, 

But learn what God is like; 
And in the darkest battlefield 

Thou shalt know where to strike. 

— F. W. Faber. 

And let us not be weary in well-doing: for in due 
season we shall reap, if we faint not. — Gal. vi, 9. 

They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that 
goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall 
doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his 
sheaves with him. — Psa. cxxvi, 5, 6. 

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, un- 
movable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, 
forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in 
the Lord. — 1 Cor. xv, 58. 

It must be clear to every thoughtful Chris- 
tain, and especially to every Methodist, that 
the thoughts just presented suggest the im- 
portance and necessity of a widespread, thor- 
ough, and profound revival of old-time re- 
ligion in all our churches. More machinery, 
more organizations, more patent appliances, 
will not suffice. Summer schools, lecture 
courses, fairs, festivals, picnics, and all the 

15 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

rest, are utterly unavailing. We may have all 
these things and still a spiritual death may 
smite all our churches. We must find the old 
paths and walk in the old ways. The arm of 
God is not shortened that he cannot save. The 
power of the Holy Ghost is infinite. The 
blood of Jesus Christ can still cleanse from all 
sin. We ought to have aVevival that will cover 
our whole country, and overlapping its re- 
motest boundaries shall make its presence and 
power felt to the ends of the earth. 

The aim of God's people should be to make 
this revival perennial rather than spasmodic. 
There is a constant tendency to unsteadiness 
in thought, faith, and Christian activity. A 
condition of religious life closely akin to the 
revival spirit ought to prevail constantly in all 
our churches. Sad to say, this is not the ex- 
perience of very many. There are churches 
which exist, for the most part, in a dormant 
condition. They do sometimes make an effort, 
for two or three weeks in a year, to shake off 
the lethargy that oppresses them, but they soon 
relapse into their usual somnolent condition. 
Some of them do not even have a revival 
spasm; they live, year after year, in absolute 
quietness; they have no special anxiety for 

16 



Faith Encouraged 

themselves, and not any at all for perishing 
sinners. Even a spasmodic revival for such 
churches would be a great improvement. 

The great, present, pressing need is that all 
our pastors and people should give more ear- 
nest attention to the development and cultiva- 
tion and encouragement of a style of religious 
life that shall be constantly aggressive, and 
ever alert in the work of leading souls to the 
Lord Jesus Christ. If this condition, so much 
to be desired, shall be realized the idea must be 
forever abandoned that professional or non- 
professional evangelists are a necessity, And 
yet I would not in the most distant manner 
venture even to suggest that there are many 
evangelists who are not doing most excellent 
service, but pastors and people must come to 
understand that they are not an absolute neces- 
sity. The substantial, persistent revival that 
flourishes alike in summer's heat and winter's 
cold is not the creation of a mere human 
evangelist. Such a revival is the work of the 
Holy Ghost. Again, it is essential that pastor 
and people should be possessed, enthused with 
the thought that in the economy of divine 
grace there is never a combination of circum- 
stances when it is justifiable to say, "Four 
(2) 17 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

months and then cometh harvest." That is the 

language of inexcusable unbelief. That is the 

language of those who have never proved the 

all-embracing scope of the divine promises. 

Faith claims the fulfillment of the word of 

Jesus where he says: "Lift up your eyes, and 

look on the fields; for they are white already 

to harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth 

wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: 

that both he that soweth and he that reapeth 

may rejoice together. ,, A gasp of life, now 

and then, is better than death; a spasmodic 

revival is better than none at all; but the ideal/ 1 

revival is one that abides and continues all 

through the year. 

18 



CHAPTER III 
Wise and Timely Plans 



CHAPTER III 
Wise and Timely Plans 

Behold the servant of the Lord ! 

I wait thy guiding hand to feel; 
To hear and keep thy every word, 

To prove and do thy perfect will : 
Joyful from my own works to cease, 
Glad to fulfill all righteousness. 

— Charles Wesley. 

The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; 
therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing. — 
Prov. xx, 4. 

Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there 
may be meat in mine house, and prove me now here- 
with, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the 
windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that 
there shall not be room enough to receive it. — Mai. 
iii, 10. 

Revivals do not come by chance, nor do 
they come by arbitrary divine appointment. 
There have been revivals that seemed to take 
place without any definite prearrangement or 
plan, but they may be accounted for on the 
ground that some burdened soul, humble and 
unknown, has been in consultation with God; 
and, while others have been careless and indif- 
ferent, this one soul, like Elijah of old, has pre- 

21 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

vailed in prayer, and alone has claimed the 
promise, that, being fulfilled, has brought re- 
freshing showers in abundant measure to the 
dry and barren fields, making even desert 
places to bud and blossom. But the existence 
of such exceptional cases does not militate 
against the idea that God's work in grace is not 
altogether different from his work in nature. 
If the husbandman carefully plans with refer- 
ence to the desired harvest, much more should 
the pastor plan with reference to the high and 
holy work which has been committed to his 
hands. Wise planning for revivals will cer- 
tainly take into account both times and sea- 
sons. God can pour out the gracious influence 
of the Holy Ghost at any time upon human 
hearts, but there are conditions of climate, oc- 
cupation, and general environment which must 
materially affect the results. In a farming dis- 
trict it might not be best, under ordinary cir- 
cumstances, to undertake revival work in the 
very busiest part of the heated term of sum- 
mer; and it might be said, on the other hand, 
that it would not be wise to enter upon revival 
services at a season of the year when usually 
the roads and streets are in a notoriously bad 
condition. Thus there are many considera- 

22 



Wise and Timely Plans 

tions to be thought of in determining the time 
for special revival services. 

It is not possible to emphasize too strongly 
the unwisdom of putting off until the first week 
in January — the so-called Week of Prayer — 
the great revival effort of the year. For the 
past twenty or more years we Methodists have 
been more and more adopting this unfortunate 
practice. There has been an existing sentiment 
that it was something wonderful that all evan- 
gelical Christians should unite in the observ- 
ance, and we have allowed sentiment to over- 
rule sound, sober judgment and intelligent 
common sense. It is time to call a halt. Senti- 
ment is well enough in its place, but if any 
business demands the exercise of our best 
judgment, it is that of saving the souls of the 
perishing. The result of yielding to sentiment 
in this matter is that in far too many cases we 
have given up the months of October and 
November, to say nothing of September and 
December, to lecture courses of various kinds, 
to fairs and festivals, and nearly all sorts of 
entertainments, and have put off our special 
revival work until the first week in January. 
We have thus lost, in affairs of minor impor- 
tance, and sometimes of very doubtful utility, 

23 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

the very best part of the year for public gather- 
ings of the people, and have shut ourselves up 
to a time when we are more than likely to have 
exceedingly cold weather, and when the roads 
and streets may be in a condition to render it 
practically impossible for most of the people 
to attend the revival meetings if they should 
be held. This great and widely prevailing mis- 
take must be corrected if we hope to secure the 
best possible results. In the choice months of 
spring and autumn let everything give way to 
the revival. Let all other enterprises of the 
church give the revival the unobstructed right 
of way; let the rough places be made smooth 
and plain, and the crooked places be made 
straight; let the valleys be filled and the hills 
leveled, and let all the people harmoniously and 
lovingly agree to unite in the revival efforts 
that surely in all parts of the country north of 
Mason and Dixon's line ought to commence, 
in case of the spring Conferences, as early as 
the middle of September; and in the fall Con- 
ferences, where the preachers do not move, as 
soon as the Conferences adjourn, and where 
the preachers move, as soon as they are settled 
in their new fields of labor. 

In some sections of the country there is no 

24 



Wise and Timely Plans 

better time for revival work than the spring. 
April, May, and June are three of the most de- 
lightful months in the whole year. Why 
should they not be utilized for revival work? 
Surely they might be, if the thought should 
take possession of the minds of the pastors of 
our churches, and if the divinely appointed 
means should be employed. Taking all our 
Conferences together, and a very large ma- 
jority of them are not held in the spring. In 
all cases where the appointments are not 
changed the preachers and their families are 
acquainted with the people and know the con- 
ditions of the communities and the churches 
where they are stationed, and they can at once 
enter upon a special campaign for the conver- 
sion of souls. Where preachers have been re- 
moved, and they find themselves in new fields, 
what better method can there be for com- 
mencing the work of the year than to make an 
earnest effort to secure a genuine revival of 
religion. Would it not be well to postpone all 
other matters, except such as must be imme- 
diately considered, and concentrate all the skill, 
strength, and toil of pastor and people upon re- 
vival work? 

In revival work delays are dangerous. 

25 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

"Now is the accepted time." Napoleon started 
too late when he set out for Moscow. Two 
thousand French cannon would not be laid 
along the walks within the Kremlin, as one day 
we saw them, if the ill-fated campaign had 
begun in season. The defeat that led to the 
ultimate overthrow of the French emperor was 
the result of needless delay. 

Many a revival effort has proved a failure 
because wisdom was not exercised in the selec- 
tion of the time of making it. No sane man in 
the Mississippi valley plants corn in Septem- 
ber. There are proper times for doing all 
things that need to be done. God's work is not 
so different from all other work that we can 
afford to throw away all common sense when 
planning to carrying it forward. Nor is it of 
so small importance that it can be made to give 
place to everything else; it ought always to 
have the right of way. Nothing can compare 
with it in importance. Nothing so affects the 
destinies of immortal souls. 

Almost every winter is exceptional; at least 
this is the case in the opinion of very many. 
Whether this be true or not, it is manifest that 
the winter season is not the time when the 
singing of birds is heard in the land. Every 

26 



Wise and Timely Plans 

winter witnesses the complete failure of un- 
numbered revival efforts, for the simple reason 
that the severe weather has interfered. Much 
snow, high winds, zero temperature, are the 
characteristics which make an exceptional win- 
ter. In such weather it is difficult and very 
expensive to warm churches, the roads are in 
bad condition and in many instances almost 
impassable, and the people do not come to the 
church for the good and sufficient reasons that 
it is well-nigh impossible to do so, and health 
and life would be imperiled by the attempt to 
come. It would therefore be worse than folly, 
it would be w r icked to upbraid, much worse to 
scold people for not coming out to church 
under such circumstances. Suicide is not jus- 
tifiable even in promoting revivals. Sometimes 
we have reasonable winter weather, and when 
this is the case the winter months are not un- 
favorable for revival work; but the rule is that 
all through December, January, February, and 
March, in the latitudes north of the Ohio, 
and in the Western as well as the Eastern 
States, the weather will be, for the most part, 
very unfavorable for the gathering of the con- 
gregations we wish to reach. 

27 



CHAPTER IV 
God's Prompt Response 



CHAPTER IV 
God's Prompt Response. 

Let Zion's watchmen all awake, 

And take the alarm they give; 
Now let them from the mouth of God 

Their solemn charge receive. 

'Tis not a cause of small import 

The pastor's care demands; 
But what might fill an angel's heart, 

And filled a Saviour's hands. 

— Philip Doddridge, 

Except the Lord conduct the plan, 

The best concerted schemes are vain, 

And never will succeed; 

We spend our wretched strength for naught; 

But if our works in thee be wrought, 

They shall be blest indeed. 

—Charles Wesley. 

Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a 
solemn assembly: gather the people, sanctify the con- 
gregation, assemble the elders, gather the children. . . . 
Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between 
the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy 
people, O Lord, and give not thine heritage to re- 
proach. — Joel ii, 15-17, 

Wise planning involves the idea of marshal- 
ing all the forces of the church for active co- 

31 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

operation with the pastor. It will not be amiss 
if the pastor calls together his entire official 
board, and, after a season of earnest prayer, 
unfolds to them the deep desires of his heart. 
Let him tell these men of God, who bear the 
burdens of the church, that he wants, that he 
must have, their sympathy and help; let him 
get them to renew their vows of consecration 
and seek for a special baptism of the Holy 
Ghost for the great work that is to be under- 
taken. It ought to be a comparatively easy 
thing for the average pastor to secure the well- 
nigh united and cordial support of his entire 
officiary, and when this is done a great step has 
been taken toward ultimate success. Now and 
then a citizen of "Meroz" may be found even 
among the official brethren; but the hosts of 
God must not delay on that account. They 
may go forth to battle, sure of victory. 

In one of the prominent churches of one of 
the largest Conferences in New York a com- 
paratively young man found his place of labor. 
The church was wealthy, fashionable, influen- 
tial socially, and altogether a very respectable 
and well-to-do people. They gave their pastor 
a delightful parsonage for his home, his salary 
was ample and promptly paid, and his vacation 

32 



God's Prompt Response 

was entirely satisfactory. It must, however, 
be said that religion was at a low ebb, class 
meetings almost unknown, and the midweek 
prayer meeting very poorly attended. It is 
undoubtedly true that there are some few pas- 
tors who under the circumstances would not 
have worried or laid awake nights in view of 
such conditions. But the pastor was not of 
this type. He found a great company of un- 
converted young people in the Sunday school, 
many young men and women connected with 
the families of his church members who seldom 
attended the preaching services. He also found 
some few of his members who occasionally 
attended the theater, were found in the dance 
hall, were known to play cards — some of them 
for prizes — and his heart was troubled. For 
weeks he studied the problem by night and 
day, prayed often and long in his hours of 
meditation and study, preached tenderly and 
faithfully. At last he called all his official 
brethren together, nearly thirty of them, and 
fully opened his heart to them. Then fol- 
lowed a season of protracted and earnest 
prayer, and then each official promised to stand 
by the pastor in any effort he might make to 
secure a revival of religion. It needs only to 
(3) 33 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

be said that from this official meeting for con- 
sultation and prayer and consecration thirty 
men went forth to do the work of lay evan- 
gelists. In shop and store, in offices and by 
the wayside, these men with a fresh baptism of 
the Holy Ghost went about telling the old, old 
story illustrated by their new experiences. 
The immediate result was the conversion of 
more than two hundred people, a larger pro- 
portion of them prominent men and women. 
The collateral results were the abandonment 
by all the backslidden church members of the 
theater, the card table, and the dance. The 
ultimate results God alone can know and esti- 
mate, but it is sure they are beyond finite meas- 
urement, and they will be as lasting as eternity. 
And this came about because the burdened 
heart, the anxious, loving heart of the pastor 
led him by the help of the Holy Spirit to plan 
his work wisely and carry it forward to glori- 
ous sucess. 

Here is another instance of the same kind, 
and, as in the former case, this is a young man. 
There is no good reason why old men may not 
go and do likewise. It seems that the bishop 
who was to preside at his Conference sent out 
a request to the preachers and people of all the 

34 



God's Prompt Response 

charges to observe the fourth of October as a 
day of special prayer for the outpouring of the 
Holy Spirit, and the revival of the work of 
God. This young preacher made his plan to 
observe the day fully and faithfully. He was 
not a city preacher, but a modern circuit rider, 
and so he called all his people together at the 
central appointment, with the following re- 
sults. This is what he has to say of what hap- 
pened: "There were about a hundred people 
present all day from the four appointments on 
my charge. It was one of the most glorious 
days ever spent by me on the earth. Three 
were converted on that day. We continued 
on, and one hundred and sixty were converted 
at the one appointment. We have had revivals, 
and many conversions at all points on the 
charge. Have all our collections up to the ap- 
portionments." What a magnificent record! 
No outside help of any kind. Our young 
preacher had faith in God; waited before the 
mercy seat till he received the baptism of 
power; called his people around him, and they 
answered to his call, and the work went 
straight on in the power of God. Church 
members will follow such leadership, and glori- 
ous results will be secured. What this one 

35 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

young preacher accomplished, what he did, 
may be done by thousands of young preachers. 
It costs thought, planning, toil, consecration, 
self-denial, holy living, mighty faith, but all 
these are within the reach of all. Why hesi- 
tate? Why halt when such glorious possibili- 
ties are within easy reach, when such immortal 
victories may be won ? 

Here is still another case in point. The 
preacher was not one of the highly exalted 
kind, but a good, straightforward man of God. 
He had more than sixty converts. 

How he did it! How, within two months 
of the adjournment of Conference, did he 
gather more than sixty happy converts into his 
church ? He went away from Conference find- 
ing fault with the presiding elders and bishop 
because he was not sent to a more inviting 
field! Not a bit of it. Well, then, he went 
away from Conference grumbling because no- 
body seemed to appreciate his ability, and he 
was just dropped down in a haphazard way! 
Not a bit of it. But certainly when he reached 
his new appointment he let all the people know 
that they had a man who was away above their 
style, and his high intellectual attainments en- 
titled him to a much better place ! Not a bit of 

36 



God's Prompt Response 

it. At all events, the pastor and his wife be- 
gan as soon as possible to find fault with the 
parsonage, and fuss about the furniture; and 
they did this in a very public way ! Not a bit 
of it. Well, but the pastor put all his wits to 
work to whitewash the garden fence, and put- 
ter around with a broom and hammer and 
handsaw to fix things up while he scolded 
about the carelessness of his predecessor ! Not 
a bit of it. 

Surely, if he did not do these things, what 
did he do ? First of all, he thanked God that 
he was alive and able to go to his appointment 
— glad that he had a place anywhere to preach 
the glorious Gospel of the blessed God; glad 
that the Eternal God was his refuge, and that 
underneath him were the everlasting arms; 
glad that in his soul he had the precious wit- 
ness of the Holy Ghost conjoined with the tes- 
timony of his own consciousness that he was 
a child of God. So he went to his work, light 
in his eye, a smile on his face, a warm hand 
grasp and cheering word for his people, 
whether rich or poor, whether clad in rags or 
in silks. Then the first Sunday instead of 
making a display he preached the Gospel; he 
went into the Sunday school. Then just as 

37 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

soon as things were fairly settled in the par- 
sonage he began to call from house to house, 
talking about Jesus and the great salvation, 
and praying with the families as occasion of- 
fered; and so in the class meetings and prayer 
meetings his presence was an inspiration, and 
of course the people rallied around him, and 
soon the first convert appeared, and then an- 
other and another, and as the number multi- 
plied faith increased, and so the work went on, 
and it will go on. It always goes on with such 
preachers. 

How he did it! Why, just as any fully 
consecrated, sweetly saved preacher may do it. 
The pathway to success is sure if we will walk 
in it, and the weakest may walk in it. This 
man planned and worked, and expected suc- 
cess. He did not wait. He wisely used appro- 
priate means and achieved success. 

38 



CHAPTER V 
Revival Persistency 



CHAPTER V 
Revival Persistency 

O ye of fearful hearts, be strong! 

Your downcast eyes and hands lift up ! 
Ye shall not be forgotten long; 

Hope to the end, in Jesus hope! 
Tell him ye wait his grace to prove; 
And cannot fail, if God is love. 

— Charles Wesley. 

Although the vine its fruit deny, 

Although the olive yield no oil, 
The withering fig trees droop and die, 

The fields elude the tiller's toil, 
The empty stall no herd afford, 

And perish all the bleating race, 
Yet will I triumph in the Lord, — 

The God of my salvation praise. 

— Charles Wesley. 

And he said, Take the arrows. And he took them. 
And he said unto the king of Israel, Smite upon the 
ground. And he smote thrice, and stayed. And the 
man of God was wroth with him, and said, Thou 
shouldest have smitten five or six times; then hadst 
thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it. — 
2 Kings, xiii, 18, 19. 

And let us not be weary in well-doing: for in due 
season we shall reap, if we faint not. — Gal. vi, 9. 

41 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

Revival persistency assumes that the 
preacher has common sense, and makes con- 
stant use of all he has in carrying forward the 
work of God. Good common sense leads the 
preacher to lay his plans with much thought 
and wisdom. At least he will be careful to 
take the choicest part of the year for his revival 
services, and insist that other things shall yield 
the right of way to the supreme work of the 
church. Then the preacher will try to know 
the people, and will study their peculiar ways, 
habits, and notions, and not try to compel ab- 
ject submission to his opinions and dictates. 
Usually the most and best service can be se- 
cured when men who do the work have an idea 
that they are taken into kindly and confidential 
relations with the pastor in his planning for a 
revival campaign. Then, the pastor must not 
fret, or fume, or worry; for if he does he will 
find the church will partake of the same style, 
and will become utterly balky. 

It will need but a moment's thought to see 
that the conditions just suggested are not 
spontaneous. They result from well-known 
and appreciable causes. Revival persistency 
first of all depends upon the personal religious 
experience of the pastor. Revivals have taken 

42 



Revival Persistency 

place and souls have been converted under the 
labors of backslidden and wicked men; but 
even such men may preach the truth, and such 
truth has produced fruit. This will not in any 
degree militate against the idea that a wholly 
consecrated man, filled with the Spirit and 
living a holy life, is a more suitable agent 
through whom the unsaved may be brought to 
Christ. With such an experience let the pastor 
go about his work as the hand of Providence 
shall point out the way. The people must be 
visited, and direct personal effort must be em- 
ployed. If the people are well call on them, 
if they are sick call on them all the more, and 
this work should be done in a systematic and 
thorough manner, and it will be so done by 
every faithful pastor. Let him persist; the 
people will be well after a while, and then cir- 
cumstances will be favorable. It may be that 
some members of the official board are not in 
full sympathy with the movement; they are 
frozen Christians. Let the preacher persist; 
the sun will melt mountains of ice, if it has 
time and opportunity. It may be that a sudden 
quarrel arises in the choir, and harps by the 
dozen are hung upon the willows, and the 
singers will not come up to the help of 

43 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

the Lord. Very well. "Let those refuse to 
sing who never knew our God;" but be it 
known that a genuine revival is not made 
up of singing. Let the preacher persist, 
singing or no singing. It may be that vari- 
ous distractions altogether unexpected and 
not in any way helpful may arise, and there is 
the danger that the attention of the people 
may be diverted. Never mind; the preacher 
has steady faith, and steady faith means steady 
salvation. Let the preacher persist, and the 
work will go on; for "it is not by might nor 
by power" that revival services are to be sus- 
tained, but by the outpouring of the Spirit 
upon saints and sinners; and this grace comes 
in answer to real, believing prayer which goes 
up to the throne from consecrated and baptized 
souls. 

Revival persistency! That does not neces- 
sarily mean that ten or a dozen services should 
be held weekly for six months without inter- 
ruption; but it does mean that when once wise- 
ly planned revival services have been com- 
menced they should be steadily continued until 
crowned with victory, or a clear providential 
indication points to their termination. 

44 



CHAPTER VI 
Evangelistic Preaching 



CHAPTER VI 
Evangelistic Preaching 

Shall I, for fear of feeble man, 
The Spirit's course in me restrain? 
. Or, undismayed in deed and word, 
Be a true witness of my Lord? 

Awed by a mortal's frown, shall I 
Conceal the word of God most high? 
How then before thee shall I dare 
To stand, or how thine anger bear? 

Shall I, to soothe the unholy throng, 
Soften thy truth, or smooth my tongue, 
To gain earth's gilded toys, or flee 
The cross endured, my Lord, by thee? 

Trans, by John Wesley. 

Arise, go into Nineveh, that great city, and preach 
unto it the preaching that I bid thee. — Jonah iii, 2. 

Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the 
house of Israel : therefore hear the word at my mouth, 
and give them warning from me. — Ezek. iii, 17. 

Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to 
every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall 
be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. — 
Mark xvi, 15, 16. 

To evangelize is "to instruct in the Gospel; 
to preach the Gospel; to convert to a belief in 
the Gospel." All this may be done by pen, or 
word of mouth, or by a holy life. In La 

47 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

Rochelle, which for many years was a strong- 
hold of the Huguenots, there is an ancient 
cathedral whose aisles were once trodden by 
the bravest men and saintliest women. As one 
enters he may see at the right a magnificent 
window, in which are the figures of an apostle, 
life-size, and an angel. The angel has in his 
left hand a long trumpet, and in his right 
hand an open book. On the left-hand page 
is written, "Tuba mirum spargens sonum;" 
and on the opposite page is written, "Liber 
scriptus proferetur" The interpretation is 
manifest. The written book, the Bible, which 
reveals the will of God and makes known the 
plan of redemption and salvation, shall be pub- 
lished; but it is the Gospel trumpet that scat- 
ters the joyful news, the wonderful news, the 
glad sound, far and wide over all the earth. 
The evangelist must be more than a writer, 
more than a teacher, more than a book; he 
must be the living incarnation of Gospel truth, 
and he must translate his life into words aflame 
with love and compel the attention of toiling, 
suffering, dying, despairing men and women, 
until they shall come out of the regions of the 
shadow of death into the light and liberty of 
the sons and daughters of God. 

48 



Evangelistic Preaching 

Every minister of the Lord Jesus Christ in 
spirit and purpose should be an evangelist. 
The Master was an evangelist. The supreme 
evidence of his divinity was, not that he gave 
sight to the blind, strength and soundness to 
the lame, cleansing to the lepers, hearing to the 
deaf, and life to the dead, but that he preached 
the Gospel to the poor — that he evangelized. 
In truth, he was a restless, itinerant evangelist; 
for he went about all Galilee, "teaching in their 
synagogues, and preaching the Gospel of the 
kingdom," and, incidentally, "healing all man- 
ner of sickness and all manner of disease 
among the people." Almost at the instant 
when he was taken up from the earth and a 
cloud received him out of the sight of his as- 
tonished followers, he said, "Go ye, therefore, 
and teach all nations;" "Go ye into all the 
world, and preach the Gospel to every crea- 
ture;" "And ye shall be witnesses unto me, 
both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in 
Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the 
earth." These words of the risen Christ ought 
to inspire every loyal heart with an all-con- 
suming desire to spread abroad the knowledge 
of the truth and win this world back to its 
rightful allegiance. When these words take 
(4) 49 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

possession of the soul, then we know what 
Paul, the great evangelist to the nations, meant 
when he said, "Yea, doubtless, and I count all 
things but loss for the excellency of the knowl- 
edge of Christ Jesus my Lord : . . . . that I may 
know him, and the power of his resurrection, 
and the fellowship of his sufferings, being 
made comfortable unto his death." Hence, if 
we study the example and commands of the 
Lord Jesus, if we study the thought and spirit 
of Paul, we must be impressed with the idea 
that, so long as there are careless souls to be 
aroused, penitents to be confronted, and saints 
to be instructed and encouraged, there will be 
needed a ministry that is thoroughly evangel- 
istic. 

The conditions of every age are peculiar. 
The first century of the Christian era had 
scarcely anything in common with the opening 
of the twentieth century. Then there was but 
one nation. Rome was everything. Rome 
claimed dominion from the Hebrides to the 
Sahara, from the pillars of Hercules to the 
banks of the Indus. The empire was magnifi- 
cent, irresistible, and supposed to be eternal. 
Christians were few in numbers, humble in 
rank, powerless in politics, despised by the 

so 



Evangelistic Preaching 

learned, persecuted by tyrants, and scattered 
here and there uncertain of the future. To- 
day the nominal Christians of the world num- 
ber half a billion — a third of its entire popula- 
tion. Christian nations control all things by 
sea and land. There is no terra incognita. 
Even Africa has been explored and is being 
rapidly apportioned among the Christian na- 
tions of Europe. Men fly from country to 
country as on the wings of the wind, and they 
send their thoughts around the world with a 
speed that well-nigh outstrips the light. 
Everybody in Christendom may know every 
morning at the breakfast table, or every even- 
ing at the supper table, most of the principal 
events that have taken place in the preceding 
twenty-four hours in all the lands between the 
frozen circles of the North and the South. We 
are neighbors by propinquity to everybody. 
There are no hermit nations; there are no som- 
nolent peoples. The rush of events has awak- 
ened the whole mass of humanity. If there are 
comparatively few great and all-embracing 
scholars there are uncounted millions who 
know more or less about men and things, about 
the past and present, about matters with which 
they ought to be familiar, and equally about 

5i 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

those they would do well to ignore and forget 
forever. Nor can there be any doubt in regard 
to the perils surrounding the Christian faith. 
There is no longer persecution that involves 
the loss of liberty, possessions, or life. We 
have freedom almost everywhere to worship 
God according to the dictates of our own con- 
sciences. But none the less are there manifest 
efforts to undermine the foundations upon 
which Christianity has been built; a persistent, 
malicious determination in every way to set 
aside the authority of the Bible; a specious or 
virulent antagonism to the claims of the Lord 
Jesus; a calm, quiet, invulnerable indifference; 
and an intense devotion and slavery to fame, 
fashion, wealth, pleasure, and all worldliness 
and sin. To compare the conditions of 1900 
and those of the year 100, in not a few respects 
it will appear that the opposing forces, the 
enemies of Christianity, are as formidable now 
as then. 

There is one fundamental fact we must al- 
ways remember. Humanity itself, in all essen- 
tials, is always the same. This is true of all 
the races now living. It always has been true, 
and always will be true. The ideas of ought 
not and ought, of sin and penalty, of God and 

52 



Evangelistic Preaching 

responsibility, are thoroughly ingrained in the 
nature of man. They are found in all lands; 
they cannot be obliterated. It is equally true 
that souls everywhere desire and long to be 
delivered from the burden — may we not say 
from the guilt, the pollution, and the power ? — 
of sin. Human souls are not orphaned, they 
are not outcast, they are not forgotten. God 
has them in mind, and his love flows out to all, 
and he will surely be found by those who feel 
after him. Human hearts are hungry for pity, 
compassion, sympathy, love. This hunger is 
just as natural and just as universal as the 
hunger of the body; and is it not reasonable to 
suppose that some provision should be made to 
satisfy this heart-hunger ? The very existence 
of hunger proves that somewhere there must 
be an adequate supply of what is needed to 
appease the inevitable longings of the deathless 
spirit. The one sufficient, supreme, divine 
remedy for all ills, whether of individuals or 
of humanity, is the Gospel of the Son of God, 
for it is the infinite, omnipotent, all-efficient 
power of God, the eternal and ever-blessed 
heavenly Father whose name is Love, unto sal- 
vation — salvation of soul and body, for time 
and eternity — to everyone, of every race and 

S3 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

nation, that believeth. The remedy is brought 
within the reach of everyone, and it may be 
obtained upon conditions that may easily be 
complied with by all. 

We need to remember always that the Gos- 
pel is complex and comprehensive. There is 
much more to it than is embraced in that puerile 
proverb, "Be good and you will be happy." 
When it is assumed that such a proverb covers 
the case we relegate the Gospel to the low 
standard of Confucius and Mencius. There 
must be the foundation of good conduct in the 
intelligent apprehension of truth; and so the 
Gospel implies the search for truth. The Gos- 
pel has its greatest triumphs in such intellects 
as those of Paul and Newton and Wesley. The 
Lord recognized the use of the intellect when 
he said, "Search the Scriptures; for in them ye 
think ye have eternal life; and they are they 
which testify of me." And the use of the in- 
tellect in the consideration of the Gospel is 
commended in that memorable passage where 
it is said, "These were more noble than those 
in Thessalonica, in that they received the word 
with all readiness of mind, and searched the 
Scriptures daily, whether those things were 
so." But the Gospel requires faith and belief, 

54 



Evangelistic Preaching 

because there are depths and heights of divine 
wisdom that can never be fully grasped by the 
\human understanding, and because human 
reason may not be able to perfectly adjust all 
the relations of revealed truth. "For we walk 
by faith, not by sight.' ' 

55 



CHAPTER VII 
Doctrinal Preaching' 



CHAPTER VII 
Doctrinal Preaching 

We all believe in one true God, 
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, 

Strong Deliverer in our need, 
Praised by all the heavenly host, 

By whose mighty power alone 

All is made, and wrought, and done. 

And we believe in Jesus Christ, 

Son of man and Son of God ; 
Who, to raise us up to heaven, 

Left his throne and bore our load; 
By whose cross and death are we 
Rescued from our misery. 

And we confess the Holy Ghost, 
Who from both forever flows; 

Who upholds and comforts us 
In the midst of fears and woes. 

Blest and holy Trinity, 

Praise shall aye be brought to thee! 

Trans, by Miss C. Winkworth. 

For precept must be upon precept, precept upon pre- 
cept ; line upon line, line upon line ; here a little, and 
there a little. — Isa. xxviii, 10. 

Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhorta- 
tion, to doctrine. — i Tim. iv, 13. 

Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, 

59 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort 
and to convince the gainsayers. — Titus i, 9. 

If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to whole- 
some words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; he 
is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions 
and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, rail- 
ings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings of men of 
corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing 
that gain is godliness : from such withdraw thyself. — 
1 Tim. vi, 3-5. 

In these days much is said in regard to 
creeds, as though they were of the least possi- 
ble importance. There are some so-called 
Christian ministers who evidently think, with 
the unbelieving poet, that a man's creed must 
be right who lives a respectable and decent 
life, forgetting the restraining power that men 
of right creeds have on all about them. The 
Gospel is a creed — an imperative, intolerant, 
God-ordained creed. "He that believeth and 
is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth 
not shall be damned." These are the words of 
Jesus, and they imply the existence of a creed 
— of something to be believed. Men with no 
moral convictions are the men without creeds. 
Men who excuse sin and make it a trivial thing 
in the moral universe are the men without 

creeds. Men who think God is careless, indif- 

60 



Doctrinal Preaching 

ferent, oblivious in regard to the violations of 
the divine law are the men without creeds. 
Men who make myths of heaven and hell, of 
the resurrection and the judgment, are the men 
without creeds. The men who, while they 
maintain the appearance of respectability and 
good conduct, are yet worldly, self-indulgent, 
pleasure-seeking, and selfish, are the men with- 
out creeds. Genuine Christian character inde- 
pendent of the Christian creed is well-nigh im- 
possible. Jesus was a creed-maker. Hear 
him: "Ye believe in God" — the God of the 
Scriptures, the omniscient, omnipresent, om- 
nipotent, the eternally self -existing God. "Ye 
believe in God" — the lawmaker and adminis- 
trator of the material and moral realms, the 
watchful, faithful, loving friend of all men. 
This faith in God is the first article of this 
creed. And the second is like unto it: "Be- 
lieve also in me." Believe in me as the 
Messiah, whose coming has been foretold 
from Genesis to Malachi; in me, of whom 
Moses and the Psalms and the prophets 
all testify; in me, the only begotten Son of 
God, the I Am of the Old Testament, equal 
with the Father, self-existent from all eternity, 
the Redeemer and Saviour of mankind. The 

61 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

Lord Jesus had no idea of character without 
creed, and it would seem that there must be 
something wrong with a man's head or heart 
who inveighs against creeds. 

What this present hour needs is that God's 
people "should earnestly contend for the faith 
which was once delivered unto the saints. For 
there are certain men crept in unawares, who 
were before of old ordained to this condemna- 
tion, ungodly men, turning the grace of our 
God into lasciviousness, and denying the only 
Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ." 
Furthermore, as John Wesley says, "we are to 
contend earnestly, yet humbly, meekly, and 
lovingly, for the faith, for all fundamental 
truths, once delivered by God, to remain un- 
varied forever." This is no time for laxity and 
latitudinarianism. The imperative duty of 
this eventful hour is to refuse to waver "like a 
wave of the sea driven with the wind and 
tossed." "For we are made partakers of 
Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confi- 
dence steadfast unto the end," "till we all come 
in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge 
of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto 
the measure of the stature of the fullness of 
Christ : that we henceforth be no more chil- 

62 



Doctrinal Preaching 

dren, tossed to and fro, and carried about with 
every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, 
and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in 
wait to deceive. ,, These, and such as these, 
are men with creeds, and they are the men to 
stand up against the tide of irreligion, unbelief, 
and carelessness of God and his truth that 
wrathfully or insidiously would undermine the 
bulwarks of our faith and hope. A ministry 
that is really and truly evangelistic will stand 
upon this ground, and under all circumstances 
will proclaim the truth as it is in Jesus. Such 
a ministry will not spend its time in apologiz- 
ing for the truth or in simply defending the 
truth; but, rather, it will stand out boldly, take 
the aggressive, and be ready always "with all 
faithful diligence to banish and drive away all 
erroneous and strange doctrines contrary to 
God's word." There can be no possible substi- 
tutes for such methods and for such a ministry. 
The more pronounced, definite, evangelical, ex- 
perimentally practical, and biblical are the 
views of the minister, the more evangelistic 
will he be and the better adapted to all the ex- 
igencies of these extraordinary times. 

We must not lose sight of the great truth 
that the Gospel, while it involves the use of the 

63 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

intellect, even the highest powers of the great- 
est intellect, and while it requires a definite 
creed based on the word of God, also takes 
cognizance of the affectional nature of man. 
"With the heart man belie veth unto righteous- 
ness; and with the mouth confession is made 
unto salvation." The ideal of some people with 
superficial culture and timid natures is that a 
Christian should be a bit of ice — clear ice, it 
may be, but devoid of emotions. They have 
not the remotest appreciation of the experi- 
ences of Jesus and John and Paul, or of the 
unnumbered millions of holy souls that have 
ached and throbbed and agonized for sinners 
in danger of eternal doom, and have exulted 
and sung and shouted over victories won. To 
live without emotion, to suppress all manifes- 
tations of love and joy, to be good without a 
creed, to be a proper, impossible thing instead 
of a sympathetic soul, to be a polished marble 
statue instead of a living man, seems to be the 
height of possible attainment. These are the peo- 
ple who would have driven the Syrophenician 
woman away from Christ; who would have 
sent the man home from his neighbor's house 
without bread; who would have stood by the 
grave of Lazarus with never a sigh heaving the 

64 



Doctrinal Preaching 

breast, or a quiver on the lip, or a tear brim- 
ming the eyes. These are the people who 
would not have rejoiced with the woman who 
found her lost money, or with the man who 
found his wandering sheep, or with the father 
of the prodigal when his poor, wayward, sin- 
ning boy came home. Thank God, the Gospel 
is complex and comprehensive, meets the 
wants of all men, and appeals to all the 
powers, capabilities, and faculties of our na- 
tures. It is not a poor, one-sided, unsym- 
metrical, deformed thing, like a post in the 
ground to which young twigs are tied to keep 
them straight; it is an inspiration, an influ- 
ence, an energy, an attraction, a divine mani- 
festation of truth, pity, compassion, love, com- 
bined with omniscient power for the uplift of 
the soul and the salvation of the race. 
(5) 65 



CHAPTER VIII 
Blind Leaders of tKe Blind 



CHAPTER VIII 
Blind Leaders of the Blind 

God moves in a mysterious way 

His wonders to perform; 
He plants his footsteps in the sea, 

And rides upon the storm. 

Blind unbelief is sure to err, 

And scan his work in vain: 
God is his own interpreter, 

And he will make it plain. 

— William Cow per. 

Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling- 
block before the blind, but shalt fear thy God: I am 
the Lord. — Lev. xix, 14. 

Cursed be he that maketh the blind to wander out of 
the way: and all the people shall say, Amen. — Deut. 
xxvii, 18. 

Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall 
into the ditch? — Luke vi, 39. 

The fact that the Gospel is such as has now 
been indicated does not imply that all clergy- 
men are evangelistic, or that all the clergymen 
of any one denomination are evangelistic. We 
need not search closely in order to find those 
who are ranked as Christian ministers who 

69 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

have very little sympathy with the evangelistic 
spirit. There are quite a few, taking all clergy- 
men into account, who make but little use of 
the Gospel in their ministrations. They know 
Shakespeare better than they know the Bible; 
they are more familiar with the heathen poets 
than with the Psalms; they are more earnest 
readers of the novels of the day than of the 
epistles of Paul. They pride themselves on 
their scholarly attainments, and are never so 
well pleased as when they are recognized as 
belonging to the literary class. Their sermons 
are essays; their themes are poetical, fanciful, 
impractical. The people listen, and if they re- 
ceive any impression it will be expressed by 
"How beautiful! how soothing !" These 
preachers have little use for the Ten Com- 
mandments or the Lord's Sermon on the 
Mount; and the ethics of the Bible is too exact- 
ing and severe to command their attention or 
challenge an honest effort to fulfill its require- 
ments. Such preachers are blind leaders of the 
blind, if, indeed, they have enough of plan or 
purpose to lead anybody. Duty, conscience, 
retribution, eternity, cross-bearing, Christ-fol- 
lowing are all ignored. If the intellect is gen- 
tly agitated, if the aesthetic nature is slightly 

70 



Blind Leaders of the Blind 

stimulated, if an indefinite hope of future good 
and eternal well-being is faintly produced, it is 
about all that is anticipated or expected. It 
would be well for the Church and the world 
if such preachers, when they pass off the stage 
of action or inaction, might leave no suc- 
cessors. They are cumberers of the ground — 
barren fig trees. They are not evangelistic, 
and they have no desire to be. If Christianity 
had to depend upon them for continuance and 
vitality it would practically die out in the 
course of two or three generations. We need 
a ministry of the heart, as well as of the head, 
a ministry that will appeal to all the God-given 
faculties of the emotional nature, and so win 
men to that service which is perfect freedom 
and to that joy which is unspeakable and full 
of glory. The human heart is a harp of a thou- 
sand strings, and we need a ministry that can 
sweep with loving touch all chords and stir the 
whole being. An evangelistic ministry, warm- 
hearted, full-souled, loving, brotherly, can do 
this; and no other can. Such a ministry was 
never more needed than now. 

Then we have a class of ministers who never 
forget the mint, anise, and cumin, like those of 
whom we read in the New Testament who, 

7i 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

laying aside the commandments of God, gave 
themselves with all diligence to the frequent 
washing of their hands and of pots and cups 
and tables and brazen vessels. They are taken 
up with rites and ceremonies, and think more 
of posture and dress, of bookstands and altars, 
of robes and mantles, of candles and crucifixes, 
of censers and incense, of ordinations and his- 
toric fables, of rituals and church authority, 
than they do of the great and eternal truths of 
God's word and a holy life. The letter that 
killeth is everything to them, while the spirit 
that giveth life is well-nigh forgotten or buried 
without the hope of resurrection. It is sad but 
true, as the history of the ages proves, that a 
ritualistic ministry is not qualified to represent 
a living Christ or to do the work which a wait- 
ing world so sadly needs. There is absolutely 
no force, no power for good, in such as these; 
they cannot reclaim this world and bring it 
back to God. Under their leadership the 
Church will drift away from Christ and will 
become frivolous, worldly, formal, dead, until 
at last Christ will say: "I have somewhat 
against thee, because thou hast left thy first 
love. Remember therefore from whence thou 
art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; 

72 



Blind Leaders of the Blind 

or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will 
remove thy candlestick out of his place, except 
thou repent." 

Besides these two classes of ministers just 
mentioned we have a third. They are not 
found in large numbers in the evangelical 
Churches, though here and there one may be 
found; they abound in the so-called liberal 
Churches; they are in this country and Eng- 
land and on the Continent. It would be some- 
what difficult to mention a name that would 
exactly describe them. They commonly as- 
sume to be "advanced thinkers," "progressive 
theologians," "higher critics," "profound 
scholars," "abreast-of-the-age, up-to-date in- 
vestigators of all knowledge." They are really 
flavored with Renan, Strauss, Baur, Wellhau- 
sen, with a lingering trace of Astruc, Voltaire, 
Paine, and Spinoza. They know better than 
all the Jews, and all the evangelical historical 
students of all ages, who wrote the Pentateuch 
and Joshua and the Psalms and Isaiah and 
Daniel. They are very largely given to evolv- 
ing their knowledge from their own inner con- 
sciousness. They seem to lack sincerity, mod- 
esty, honesty, and candor. When they finish 
their work on the Holy Scriptures there is little 

73 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

left but a wreck. They eliminate prophecies, 
especially those concerning Christ; they throw 
out everything that is supernatural ; they make 
the authors of some of the most wonderful and 
magnificent portions of the Old Testament to 
be unknown, unnamed, and unheard-of men, 
who lived a thousand years after Moses and 
are supposed to have been among the exiles of 
Babylon. The work done by these destructive, 
rationalistic, arrogant critics would be bad 
enough if confined to the Old Testament; but, 
if possible, the destruction they make of the 
New is still worse. They degrade Christ; they 
will not tolerate the idea of miracles; they 
seem to have a virulent hatred of what is spir- 
itual and supernatural. Whatever these people 
may call themselves, whatever in their pride of 
scholarship and opinion they may assume to 
be, there is one name they ought to be com- 
pelled to wear. They are destructive rational- 
ists. They exalt human reason to a dizzy 
height, and then bow before its dictates. Un- 
broken, unimpeached history, that goes back 
for thousands of years, has no weight with 
them. They make a Babel of their discussions, 
for no two of them agree; they have added but 
little, if any, additional light of research and 

74 



Blind Leaders of the Blind 

scholarship to that already in possession of 
evangelical, historical, theological students. 
They are destructive to the last degree, for the 
natural and logical outcome of their teachings 
must be the loss of all faith in the Bible as the 
word of God. Good men may be deluded by 
these destructives and still hold on to their 
goodness; converted men to some extent may 
be drawn away by the babblings of these de- 
structives and yet hold on to their hope in 
Christ; but the inevitable tendency of this 
destructive rationalism is toward deism and 
atheism. It is a cause of unspeakable regret 
that any man holding these views should be 
tolerated in any evangelical pulpit or school of 
theology, for the ultimate outcome will be as 
baleful as the exhalations of the deadly upas 
tree. 

75 



CHAPTER IX 

Ambassadors from Heaven's 
Court 



CHAPTER IX. 
Ambassadors from Heaven's Court 

Go forth, ye heralds, in My name, 
Sweetly the Gospel trumpet sound; 

The glorious jubilee proclaim, 
Where'er the human race is found. 

The joyful news to all impart, 
And teach them where salvation lies; 

With care bind up the broken heart, 
And wipe the tears from weeping eyes. 

— John Logan, 

For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they 
should seek the law at his mouth : for he is the messen- 
ger of the Lord of hosts. — Mai. ii, 7. 

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath 
anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor; he hath 
sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliver- 
ance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the 
blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach 
the acceptable year of the Lord. — Luke iv, 18, 19. 

Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though 
God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's 
stead, be ye reconciled to God. — 2 Cor. v, 20. 

In contrast to certain classes of so-called 
clergymen, or ministers, it affords supreme 
satisfaction to know that we have an evan- 
gelical and evangelistic ministry. They are 

79 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

not all found in any one Church. They 
are in every Church where the name of 
Jesus is held in reverence as that of the 
second person in the adorable Trinity, where 
he is loved and worshiped, where he is 
known as the all-atoning Lamb of God. This 
evangelistic ministry does not despise, much 
less ignore, sound learning or the thorough 
cultivation of the intellect; for it believes that, 
other things being equal, the man with the best 
brain and most carefully and wisely trained is 
the best evangelist. Nor does it undervalue, 
much less pour contempt on, creeds. It holds 
to the Bible, first, last, and always, as the 
source of all truth essential to salvation; but 
at the same time it claims a part in the heritage 
of the ages and takes the Apostles' Creed as a 
wise and helpful formulation of doctrine. It 
has a hope, and is ready and able to declare 
the reason for it. It believes, and therefore it 
speaks. Its faith is "the substance of things 
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." It 
believes the whole eleventh chapter of Hebrews. 
It believes in the inspiration and authority of all 
the Scriptures. It believes in the supernatural, 
in miracles, in the absolute divinity of Jesus, 
in his atonement, resurrection, and ascension 

80 



Ambassadors from Heaven's Court 

to the right hand of God. It believes in the 
resurrection, in the judgment, in immortality, 
in heaven and hell. It believes that every peni- 
tent soul may come to God in the name of 
Jesus Christ and find pardon, life, and salva- 
tion. It believes that the time is coming when 
"the earth shall be filled with the knowledge 
of the glory of the Lord, as the water covers 
the sea;" and in this faith it expects the Gospel 
to spread abroad until the last son of Adam 
shall hear the joyful sound. 

If ever there was a time when such a 
ministry, with such a faith, was needed it 
is now. Christ has told us that the time 
is coming when "there shall be signs in the 
sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and 
upon the earth distress of nations, with per- 
plexity; the sea and the waves roaring; 
men's hearts failing them for fear, and for 
looking after those things which are coming 
on the earth." No mightier problems ever 
confronted Christianity than at this hour. 
What are we to do with labor and capital? 
What with the corruptions of society? What 
with the venality of statesmen and legislators ? 
What with the worship of wealth and power ? 

What with the wronged and oppressed in this 
(6) 81 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

land and all lands? What with the vast 
masses of the illiterate of Christendom ? What 
with the hordes of tramps and the vile, dan- 
gerous classes? What with the poor of the 
great cities? What with the waste of naval 
and military armament ? What with the awful 
drink habit and the fearfully malignant and 
cursef ul drink traffic ? What with the uncon- 
verted, unenlightened, unevangelized thousand 
millions of heathenism? 

Surely such a condition of affairs as is re- 
vealed by these questions may well appall the 
stoutest heart and try the stanchest faith. The 
supreme hope of the world is in a genuine, cul- 
tured, believing, rejoicing, evangelistic minis- 
try. Such a ministry can answer questions and 
resolve doubts; can state, explain, defend the 
truths of the Gospel when formulated into 
creeds; can exemplify the blessed, joyous, con- 
scious experience of a personal salvation. This 
world is not to be won to Christ en masse. From 
this time on it is to be hand-to-hand work. The 
ministry is the divinely appointed leadership of 
the people. If the ministry is evangelistic the 
people will be the same. And when the Church 
and ministry are both evangelistic all barriers 

to the progress of the cause of Christ will be 

82 



Ambassadors from Heaven's Court 

removed, the great and pressing questions that 
demand attention will be solved, the Gospel 
message will be carried to all lands, and the 
morning of the millennium will be hastened in 
its coming. Why may it not become the all- 
absorbing desire of every minister to enter 
with all his soul upon evangelistic work, which 
includes the enlightenment and conversion of 
sinners and the building up of all converts in 
the truth of the Gospel ? In order to this there 
must be entire consecration of all that is ever 
called "my" or "mine;" a devotement of all 
powers to the service of the Master; a seeking 
for the baptism of the Holy Ghost, for purity, 
inspiration, and service, until the gift is be- 
stowed; a holy, blameless life; and ceaseless 
toil for the salvation of the souls of men. 
That God may give the Churches and the 
world an evangelistic ministry ought to be the 
ceaseless prayer of every loyal Christian heart. 

S3 



CHAPTER X 

Special Helps in Revivals 



CHAPTER X 
Special Helps in Revivals 

Go, labor on; spend and be spent, 

Thy joy to do the Father's will; 
It is the way the Master went; 

Should not the servant tread it still? 

Toil on, and in thy toil rejoice; 

For toil comes rest, for exile home; 
Soon shalt thou hear the Bridegroom's voice, 

The midnight peal, "Behold, I come !" 

— H. Bonar. 

Has thy night been long and mournful ? 

Have thy friends unfaithful proved? 
Have thy foes been proud and scornful, 

By thy sighs and tears unmoved? 
Cease thy mourning; 

Zion still is well beloved. 

God, thy God, will now restore thee; 

He himself appears thy Friend; 
All thy foes shall flee before thee; 

Here their boasts and triumphs end: 

Great deliverance 

Zion's King will surely send. 

— Thomas Kelly. 

But let every man prove his own work, and then 
shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in an- 
other. For every man shall bear his own burden. — Gal. 

vi, 4, 5- 

87 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

At my first answer no man stood with me, but all 
men forsook me. . . . Notwithstanding the Lord stood 
with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preach- 
ing might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles 
might hear. — 2 Tim. iv, 16, 17. 

The pastor who depends on special helps in 
revivals makes a great mistake. It results un- 
favorably both for pastor and people. It is a 
great drawback to a pastor's influence and use- 
fulness if the churches come to understand 
that he cannot have a revival without special 
helps. The churches come to look on such a 
man as a one-sided, incomplete pastor, as one 
incompetent to make full proof of his ministry. 
As soon as the churches take this view of a 
man they lose to a very large degree their con- 
fidence in him, and by his own methods he has 
depreciated his own value and raised an almost 
insurmountable barrier to his own success. 
The man in whom the churches have faith and 
are willing to follow, and gladly and thorough- 
ly sustain in every way, is the man who can do 
his own preaching, care for his prayer meet- 
ings, look after his own Epworth League, 
direct and watch over his own Sunday school, 
be in his own class meetings, take charge of 
his own altar services, do his own pastoral 

88 



Special Helps in Revivals 

visiting, carefully and systematically train his 
own probationers, and make his own church 
and community the one center of all his 
thought and toil. This kind of a man, if he 
have a fair amount of common sense, and 
sweetness of disposition, and tact, and ability 
to manage men, and a love for the perishing, 
and enjoys religion, and has faith in the prom- 
ises of God, will surely and naturally develop 
the supreme quality of leadership ; he will com- 
mand the cooperation of his church and people, 
and he will see the work of God prosper in his 
hands. He will not need to depend on special 
helps for revival work, for with God's blessing 
he and his church will come to enjoy a peren- 
nial revival. 

And who will venture to say that this is an 
impossible ideal — that there are no such pas- 
tors ? If there are not plenty of them it is not 
for lack of natural endowments, not for lack of 
unattainable grace; it is simply and solely be- 
cause the pastor does not have the right ideal 
before his mind, and is not willing with unre- 
served consecration to give himself wholly to 
the work of God; and because he will not take 
this reasonable ideal and day and night strive 
to realize it in his own life and ministry. There 

89 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

are so many — too many by far — who fall into 
ruts and in an easy-going way perform in a 
routine and perfunctory style the ordinary 
duties of the profession. Such men are not 
wanted by the churches, they are of little profit 
to them; but they are the men who, if they 
have any revivals, must depend upon special 
and outside helps to secure them. 

But bad as it is for the pastor to depend 
upon these special helps, it is far worse for the 
church. It is difficult to imagine anything that 
can more thoroughly weaken the faith, quench 
the zeal, and destroy the activity of a church 
than to have the members depend upon special 
help to carry on revival work. If this is under- 
stood by any church to be the accepted policy, 
then, first of all, the average church member 
will fold his arms and wait for the usual excite- 
ment, and for the angel to come along from 
somewhere, perhaps from heaven, to trouble 
the waters. Church members who depend on 
these special helps, as a rule, are very nearly 
good for nothing for regular work. Besides, 
they lose to a very large degree their sense of 
personal responsibility; and when that is the 
case with a Christian man or woman, then 

little in the way of service is attempted and 

90 



Special Helps in Revivals 

less is accomplished. It is so easy to wait for 
the coming of special help, and so easy to ex- 
cuse one's self when it is known that somebody 
else will in due time be hired to do the work. 
It is death to any church to lose the sense of 
direct personal responsibility. God will toler- 
ate few of the excuses that may be offered. 
No one can shift to another the responsibility 
that properly and rightly belongs to himself. 
All Christendom, and our Methodism with all 
the rest, suffers because of shirking personal 
responsibility. And what better calculated to 
foster and encourage this than dependence 
upon special helps to do the work each should 
himself do ? 

And, still further, such church members suf- 
fer a spiritual atrophy in all their faculties and 
senses. Their hearts become ossified; their 
eyes are dim to see the needs of a sinning, sor- 
rowing, dying world; their feet are lame and 
they cannot run without great weariness; their 
hands are hard and stiff and unsympathetic; 
there is no thrill of Christian helpfulness about 
them. O, for hearts that feel, for eyes that 
see, for feet that run, for hands that are gentle, 
tender, and full of help ! But there will be need 
of much and constant exercise to possess all 

91 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

this. Church members who wait for special 
helps in revivals will not possess these world- 
uplifting, soul-saving qualities. O, that God 
would save our churches from waiting for 
special helps in revivals! 

And yet I must not be misunderstood. I 
would not say a word against any evangelist 
called of God to the work; I would not put a 
straw in the way of any such man or woman. 
But what I do plead for is that every pastor 
and every church should constantly be engaged 
in evangelistic work, and not depend upon 
special outside helps. If all our pastors and 
churches would just now throw themselves 
into this glorious work holy fire would descend 
in pentecostal glory, and revivals would break 
out in all directions. 

92 



CHATPER XI 
Pastoral Visitation 



CHAPTER XI 
Pastoral Visitation. 

Sow in the morn thy seed ; 

At eve hold not thy hand; 
To doubt and fear give thou no heed, 

Broadcast it o'er the land. 

Thou canst not toil in vain: 

Cold, heat, and moist, and dry, 
Shall foster and mature the grain 

For garners in the sky. 

— James Montgomery. 

Ye know, from the first day that I came into Asia, 
after what manner I have been with you at all sea- 
sons, . . . and how I kept back nothing that was prof- 
itable unto you, but have showed you, and have taught 
you publicly, and from house to house, testifying both 
to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward 
God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. There- 
fore watch, and remember, that by the space of three 
years I ceased not to warn everyone night and day with 
tears. — Acts xx, 18, 20, 21, 31. 

Revivals that are permanent in their results 
involve much house-to-house visiting. A re- 
vival without this will usually add but very little 
to the real strength of the church. It is not an 

95 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

easy thing to do the pastoral work of an ordi- 
nary church. It cannot be done as it should be 
unless the pastor is thoroughly conscientious. 
There are two things every preacher ought to 
do thoroughly, honestly, and as in the sight of 
God. The first of these is his pulpit prepara- 
tion. The second is his pastoral work. It is to 
be feared that some preachers have but small 
concern for either of these things. The inevi- 
table result is that after a few fruitless and un- 
happy years in the ministry they fall out by the 
way, and life is a sad disappointment and fail- 
ure, and this when the outcome might well have 
been altogether different. Assuming that the 
preparation for the pulpit is never neglected, 
then how important it always is to supplement 
this with faithful pastoral visitation. In the 
systematic and faithful discharge of this duty 
the pastor will come in contact with his people, 
and in proportion as he knows their home life, 
as he comes to know the heart burdens, cares, 
sorrows, and trials of his people, can he do 
them real good, and be of service to them in 
all their times of need. In this personal inter- 
course abundant opportunities will present 
themselves to cheer and assist in many ways 
the toiling, struggling saints of God, and at 

96 



Pastoral Visitation 

the same time come very near the hearts of 
sinners and win them for Christ. . 

If a pastor is anxious that every month, not 
to say every week, should witness the conver- 
sion of sinners, if he has a ceaseless, yearning, 
unspeakable desire that within the walls of his 
house of worship there should constantly be 
heard the cry of penitent souls, and the songs 
and shouts of the saved, the way to secure 
these results is for him to follow the example 
of Paul, and preach Jesus from house to house, 
and with tears and prayers and loving entreaty 
persuade precious souls to accept Christ. 

The surest way to win souls to Christ is to 
take them one by one and by direct personal 
effort show them their peril, their duty, their 
privilege, and urge them to forsake their sins 
and accept Christ by faith and unite with God's 
people. To visit from house to house needs 
both care and preparation. It is an easy thing 
to run about among the people with no definite 
purpose except to perform a professional duty 
in a formal and perfunctory way; it is quite 
different to seriously and soberly go from 
house to house, with the express purpose of 
warning and entreating the people to forsake 
their sins and turn to God. Gay, giddy, jolly, 
(?) 97 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

gossiping pastors will never succeed in this 
work, and it is equally sure that they will never 
be able to answer at the judgment seat for the 
souls committed to their charge. If all our 
preachers would, in the fear of God, and in the 
faithful performance of their vows, enter upon 
this all-important work of house-to-house vis- 
itation, and continue it through the year, it 
would result in the most wonderful and wide- 
spread revivals of religion. 

All this is within the possibilities of every 
preacher. Faithful preaching conjoined with 
suitable pastoral visitation means the revival 
spirit, and power, and fruits abiding through 
all the twelve months of every year. Why will 
not every pastor use these divinely appointed 
means and know the joy of a perpetual har- 
vest ? 

Brothers, why not even now, while reading 
these lines, renew your vows, and seeking a 
fresh baptism of the Holy Ghost commence the 
faithful discharge of one of the most impor- 
tant of all the duties that can devolve upon a 
pastor ? Brothers, time is short, and what we 
do to win souls to Christ must be done right 
speedily. Brothers, are we ready to stand be- 
fore the great white throne ? 

98 



CHAPTER XII 

Feeding' the FlocK 



LsifC. 



CHAPTER XII 
Feeding the Flock 

My gracious Master and my God, 

Assist me to proclaim, 

To spread through all the earth abroad, 

The honors of thy name. 

— Charles Wesley. 

His only righteousness I show, 

His saving truth proclaim : 
'Tis all my business here below, 

To cry, "Behold the Lamb !" 

Happy, if with my latest breath 

I may but gasp his name; 
Preach him to all, and cry in death, 

"Behold, behold the Lamb !" 

— Charles Wesley. 

Preach the word ; be instant in season, out of season ; 
reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doc- 
trine. For the time will come when they will not 
endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall 
they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 
and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and 
shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all 
things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, 
make full proof of thy ministry. — 2 Tim. iv, 2-5. 

The great work of the preacher is to build 

up believers and lead sinners to the Saviour, 

101 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

The vows we take upon ourselves when we are 
ordained, and when we enter the Conference, 
are of the most solemn and binding character. 
It is a great misfortune if we are even tempted 
to think lightly of them. It is disastrous to 
come to a state of mind when we disregard 
them. These vows are intended to shut us 
off from and out of all worldly occupations and 
pursuits. They shut us up to purely minis- 
terial work. They put upon us the most im- 
perative obligations to walk in the love and fear 
of God. They hold us steadily to the sincerest 
and most earnest efforts to attain in all our re- 
ligious experience the fullness of the grace of 
God. They require us to devote all our ener- 
gies, activities, thoughts, time, and strength to 
the two great enterprises of the accredited am- 
bassador of the court of heaven. 

We may concede, without any attempt at 
apology or explanation, that when the utmost 
has been done that can be done by the most 
devoted and faithful pastor there will be left 
in every church a residuum of worldly, care- 
less, backslidden members. They are alike in- 
different to the persuasions of love and the de- 
nunciations of wrath which we find on many a 
page of God's holy book. They are joined to 

102 



Feeding the Flock 

their idols, and the heart of God yearns over 
them as over Ephraim of old, and would not 
give them up; yet it is feared that many of 
these will die with their names upon the church 
records and at last wake up to find themselves 
shut out of heaven. 

This condition of affairs should not dis- 
hearten the faithful preacher, nor should he 
allow himself to be tempted by the enemy of all 
souls to desist from all efforts to win sinners 
until all the church members are just right. 
The arch enemy of all righteousness is never 
better pleased than when he succeeds in mak- 
ing a pious and sincere preacher believe that 
no ingathering of converts can be realized until 
the last church member comes up to an ideal 
standard fixed in the preacher's mind. Many 
a rich promise of revival has come to naught 
because of Satan's success with some conscien- 
tious pastor just at this very point. And yet 
the pastor must not cease to lead the flock by 
all loving persuasion and strong presentation 
of duty into the green pastures and beside the 
still waters. The Bible does not present an 
impossible standard, and the preacher must 
hold to that standard. 

There are three ways in which the pastor 

103 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

can succeed in his efforts to build up the 
church. The first and all-important source of 
influence is a holy life revealed in all the words 
and actions of the man of God. The church 
has a right to expect this of any man who 
assumes to stand in the sacred desk to proclaim 
the Gospel. His power to stimulate and help 
others will depend very much upon the good 
opinion of those who sit under his ministry. 
If he does not manifest the spirit of Christ, if 
he is not Christian in all his life and conversa- 
tion, if he does not command his own words 
and temper, if he is not patient, gentle, long- 
suffering, easy to be entreated — if, in short, 
he has not the fruits of the Spirit, he will fail 
in leading others to that full experience of sal- 
vation which every believer should earnestly 
seek for and believingly expect. A holy life is 
more potent to persuade than the most ornate 
and eloquent sermons. One foolish word, one 
petulant action, one irreverent look, may utter- 
ly destroy the effects of the most masterful ser- 
mon. The preacher needs to pray : 

"Arm me with jealous care, 

As in thy sight to live; 
And O, thy servant, Lord, prepare, 

A strict account to give." 
104 



Feeding the Flock 

With a holy life the preacher needs to com- 
bine deep sympathy for all the young and weak 
and fearful members of his church. We can- 
not help people very much unless we can weep 
with those who weep and rejoice with those 
who rejoice. Combined with this manifesta- 
tion of sympathy there must be wisely directed 
efforts to render suitable and timely aid, and 
this will require the utmost diligence, activity, 
and perseverance. The idle, careless, ease- 
loving, pleasure-seeking pastor will fail from 
the very start. His mind is not on his business, 
and so the Master's business is left undone, 
and the sheep go astray, and the poor hireling 
shepherd, seeing the wolf coming, fleeth be- 
cause he is a hireling. "The Good Shepherd 
giveth his life for the sheep." And surely 
there is a very important sense in which every 
real pastor is like the Good Shepherd, for he 
gives all he has of time and strength and skill 
to care for the flock committed to his charge. 

But any pastor who would build up the 
church in holiness must preach the word. He 
must persuade, convince, rebuke, reprove, ex- 
hort, and with loving tears and ceaseless 
prayers and pleadings he must show the right 
way, and in the sweet, blessed Gospel way com- 

105 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

pel men to walk in it. What the pulipts of our 
Church need is an all-round ministry, strong, 
fearless, scholarly, earnest, enthusiastic, fully, 
gloriously saved. We ought to have in our 
pulpits more strength, more variety, more 
depth, more practicality, more Gospel, a wider 
scope and range of Gospel themes, and all set 
on fire with the love of Christ and the mighty 
baptism of the Holy Ghost. We do not want 
sensationalism, nor cranky themes announced 
in the daily press, nor weak attempts to discuss 
science, nor foolish attacks on poor, blatant 
infidels and atheists, nor platitudinous investi- 
gations of abstruse subjects of metaphysics, 
philosophy, and dogmatics, nor pitched battles 
with the noisy coteries or individuals who 
make themselves notorious while hoping to be- 
come famous in setting up some old-time 
heresy as though it was entirely new and won- 
derful. No, no, no ! The people of good sense 
who are in our churches do not want any of 
this foolishness in the pulpit, for they know 
right well that in such things there is no real 
spiritual pabulum; they know that on such 
stuff they will famish and die. The cry of our 
people is more and more for the pure, plain 
Gospel vitalized in the heart and brain of a 

106 



Feeding the Flock 

man of God who lives under the shadow of the 
cross, and whose lips are touched with living 
coals from off the heavenly altars, and whose 
soul has felt, and continually feels, the divine 
afflatus of the Holy Ghost. 

These essentials which the preacher must 
have in order to build up the church in the 
most holy faith are those precisely which are 
required to lead sinners to the Saviour. O, 
this wandering, dying, perishing world! O, 
these crowded ways which lead down to death 
and hell! O, the awful, dreadful eternity 
which waits on immortal souls who meet us 
every day! Would that God in his infinite 
mercy might help us to love them more, and 
bear them in our hearts, and labor for them 
lest suddenly they elude our efforts and die 
impenitent and unsaved! 

107 



CHAPTER XIII 
LrOoKing Out for Strangers 



CHAPTER XIII 
Looking Out for Strangers 

Saviour of men, thy searching eye 
Doth all mine inmost thoughts descry; 
Doth aught on earth my wishes raise, 
Or the world's pleasures, or its praise? 

The love of Christ doth me constrain 
To seek the wandering souls of men ; 
With cries, entreaties, tears, to save, — 
To snatch them from the gaping grave. 

— Trans, by John Wesley. 

Shepherd of souls, with pitying eye 
The thousands of our Israel see; 

To thee in their behalf we cry, 

Ourselves but newly found in thee. 

See where o'er desert wastes they err, 
And neither food nor feeder have, 

Nor fold, nor place of refuge near, 
For no man cares their souls to save. 

— Charles Wesley. 

I was a stranger, and ye took me in. — Matt, xxv, 35. 

Be not forgetful to entertain strangers : for thereby 

some have entertained angels unawares. — Heb. xiii, 2. 

Neglect of this duty is well-nigh universal 
in our churches. What is everybody's busi- 
ness is nobody's business, and as this duty is 

in 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

common to all it is neglected by all. This 
growing habit — and a very bad habit it is — of 
going into church or coming out of church 
with no effort to notice the strangers within the 
gates is one to be most earnestly condemned. 
Men shake hands and speak with men they see 
every day in the week, and women speak to 
women the very same; but the casual visitor, 
the newcomer, is overlooked, if not ignored. 
Here is a case that was probably repeated in a 
thousand churches the very last Sunday: A 
w T ell-dressed woman and two fine, first-class 
young men went to the morning service of 
one of our largest and most popular churches. 
After some time spent in waiting for the usher 
they were shown into a good pew, the sixth 
from the pulpit; in fact, as good a pew as there 
was in the church was placed at their entire 
disposal. At the close of the service they slow- 
ly and quietly left the pew, entered the aisle, 
and w r alked unmolested the whole length of the 
aisle, out into the vestibule, lingered for a little 
by the outer door, and then took their depart- 
ure for their home, and from first to last no 
one had reached out to them the friendly hand, 
or said "Good morning/' or "We are glad to 
see you here, and will be glad to see you again.' ' 

112 



Looking Out for Strangers 

The only word spoken to them was "Seats ?" 
by the usher, and when his question was 
answered with "If you please" the whole so- 
ciability of the occasion was exhausted, and 
the visiting trio escaped to the sunshine of the 
street, feeling a great relief from the utter 
formality and coldness of the worshiping con- 
gregation where they had attended service. 
The most singular thing is that in the audi- 
torium every morning, at the close of wor- 
ship, a large class of young men, a department 
of the Sunday school, assembles to study the 
lesson for the day. Many of the young men 
are members both of the church and the Ep- 
worth League. Probably fifty or more of 
them were in the church, and yet they let two 
excellent young strangers come and go, and in 
all the company there was not a young man 
with business tact and Christian fraternity 
enough to welcome the two visitors, who were 
not boys, but tall, conspicuous young men, nor 
invite them to join the Sunday school class. 
How many times the experiment could be re- 
peated is uncertain, but very likely, from the 
sample, an indefinite number. 

It not unfrequently happens that in neglect- 
ing strangers we throw away, or miss securing, 

(8) 113 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

those who would be of great advantage to our 
cause and our Church in the future. 

Years ago the son of a devoted Methodist 
mother left his country home to make his for- 
tune in the city of Boston. His mother was 
very poor, and a widow. The boy had been 
most carefully trained, was a converted boy, 
was a member of the church, and had the 
promise of great usefulness. He had always 
lived in the country, was timid, diffident, and 
retiring in his nature, and all the more so 
under the changed conditions of city life. The 
first Sunday in the city he sought out, as his 
mother had suggested, a Methodist church. 
Doubtless his clothes were not especially gay 
nor fine, and he was just a poor country 
boy, and not especially attractive in his ap- 
pearance, the result of all which was that he 
waited a long time for a seat, and then the 
janitor, or sexton, dropped him into the back 
seat of all, under the shadow of the gallery. 
After the benediction he took his departure, 
and not a word had been spoken to him by 
man, woman, or child. The orphan boy, com- 
mencing a struggle for life, was completely 
overlooked. No one cared for his soul, or 
body either. This experience continued for 

114 



Looking Out for Strangers 

seven successive Sundays, and then in complete 
desperation, absolutely frozen out of this 
Methodist church, it occurred to him that he 
would drop into a Baptist church that he had 
passed every Sunday morning as he had been 
going to his own. Scarcely was he inside the 
door before a genial, warm-hearted usher took 
him by the hand and in the pleasantest way 
said, "Good morning. You haven't been long 
in the city. Glad to see you out to church so 
early. Hope you will keep up the good habit. 
Let me give you a good seat now, and every 
morning look for me and I will see you are 
well taken care of; and, by the way, we want 
you in our Sunday school; and what is your 
name, and where do you board ?" Down went 
the young man's name and address in a little 
book, and he was shown into a nice seat, and 
the young man from that day on was a Baptist. 
In the final event he became a very prosperous 
merchant, an enthusiastic Baptist, and one of 
the most efficient church and Sunday school 
workers of the Baptist Church in all Massa- 
chusetts. The Baptist usher was wise; the 
Methodist, in this case, was exceedingly foolish. 
The unthinkable carelessness, indifference, 
not to say stupidity, of very many of our peo- 

115 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

pie in regard to looking out for strangers is so 
common that illustrations multiply on every 
hand. Long years ago, when I was a student 
in college, I had occasion to spend a Sunday 
in one of the larger towns on the Hudson 
River, not very far above New York city. 
Going to the Methodist church in good season, 
I lingered a long while in the vestibule waiting 
for the usher to show me a seat, but he and the 
in-going people were alike oblivious to my 
presence, so that finally I walked in and helped 
myself to a seat, where the cushions did not 
appear to be much used; and, as the case turned 
out, I had the whole pew, the fourth from the 
pulpit, to myself. At the close of the service a 
class meeting was announced, and while the 
congregation dispersed I remained in my pew, 
while those who remained to attend the class 
meeting gathered in the front pews. The 
preacher led the class, speaking to each one in 
turn, and while I was not twenty feet away 
from him he ignored my presence, concluded 
the meeting, and then the people arose to take 
their leave, with no little chattering and hand- 
shaking and general sociability. Then the 
idea came to me that I would test their style 
of fraternity, and so passing down the aisle to 

116 



Looking Out for Strangers 

the outer door, the only one that was open, I 
took my stand on the threshold in such a way 
that no man or woman could pass out without 
coming near enough to touch me with the ex- 
tended elbow, and there I remained till preacher 
and all had passed out, busy with themselves 
and their gossip, and not one in all the number 
had apparently noticed me, much less had 
spoken to me, until at last, while I was medi- 
tating upon- the event, the janitor came along 
and shut and locked the door while I was 
standing close to the threshold, and, like the 
others, he was so taken up with his thoughts 
or business that he uttered not a word. Why 
will people persist in doing such things, and so 
turning away from the house of God hungry 
people, who might be won for Christ and much 
service by a warm hand-shake, a kind word, 
and some slight attention that real Christian 
love would naturally incite and prompt? 

What every church member needs is a feel- 
ing of personal responsibility to look after 
strangers and see that no one comes within 
reach without a cordial welcome and an invi- 
tation to come again. Especially the young 
people drifting into our churches ought to be 

cared for most sedulously and lovingly, that 

117 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

we may turn them not only to our membership, 
but that we may win them from those influ- 
ences and associations that are so abundant, 
enticing, and destructive. 

It is surprising how many years good people 
can go to the same church and not know each 
other. In our larger city churches those who 
sit on one side of the church may be as much 
strangers to those who sit on the other side as 
though they did not belong to the same congre- 
gation. It is also true that in some of our 
churches strangers may drop in from time to 
time and never hear a word of welcome, and 
never receive an invitation to come again. 
There is special danger in this respect in re- 
gard to young people and strangers in humble 
life who frequent our churches. 

There ought to be a radical change in many 
of our places of worship in regard to the treat- 
ment of strangers. First of all the pastor 
should set the example of cordial sociability. 
Let him learn the happy art of greeting stran- 
gers kindly, and shaking hands with them in 
a genial, courteous manner. He need not gush 
— in fact, he ought not to do so — but he can be 
really and truly interested, and should treat the 
poor and the rich with equal consideration. 

118 



Looking Out for Strangers 

If this be the duty of the pastor, none the 
less is it the duty of the people : Every church 
member, whether young or old, ought to feel a 
personal responsibility for "the strangers with- 
in the gates." How many hearts would be 
cheered by a kind word! A lonesome feeling 
fills the heart when away from home. This is 
true in the case of the one who enters for the 
first time a house of worship where all is un- 
familiar and where all faces are strange. Why 
do not all Christian people watch for such, and 
take the pains to speak to them, find out their 
names and their residences, and then call on 
them, and ask the pastor to do the same. Our 
American people are nomadic, they are forever 
going about from one end of the country to the 
other. They are in danger of becoming stran- 
gers in a strange land. They must be noticed 
and cared for when they come into our 
churches. Let every church member do his or 
her full duty and there will be no longer cause 
for complaint. We plead for more friendliness 
and more sociability in all our congregations. 
This is one of the sure ways to fill our houses 
of worship and build up enduring congrega- 
tions. 

119 



CHAPTER XIV 

Saving' the Children 



CHAPTER XIV 
Saving the Children 

Shepherd of tender youth, 
Guiding in love and truth 

Through devious ways; 
Christ our triumphant King, 
We come thy name to sing; 
Hither our children bring 

To shout thy praise. 

— Trans, by H. M. Dexter. 

Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these ? 
He saith unto him, Yea, Lord ; thou knowest that I 
love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. — John 
xxi, 15. 

Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid 
them not; for of such is the kingdom of God. — Mark 
x, 14. 

He who saves the children saves the church. 

The children will not be saved unless an effort 

be made to save them. First of all, parents are 

responsible, then the pastor, then the Sunday 

school teacher. The relation of the pastor to 

the children is very peculiar and interesting. 

His words, whether spoken in church or the 

home, are sure to make a lasting impression on 

the mind of the child. A smile, a pleasant 

123 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

word, go a long way with a child. A rough 
word, an unkind action, may give a child a 
prejudice against preachers that will be life- 
long. 

"A pebble in the brooklet scant 

Has turned the course of many a river; 

A dewdrop on the baby plant 
Has warped the giant oak forever." 

It is worthy of notice that in these days, in 
very many respects, more attention is paid to 
children than ever in the past. This ought to 
be the case in religious matters; indeed, it is to 
some extent. The Romanists, who in their gen- 
eration are wiser than the children of light, if 
Protestants may be regarded as the children of 
the light, have taken care that their children 
should be carefully and thoroughly instructed 
in the dogmas of their faith. Two little girls 
were once discussing their respective religious 
training. One was a Romanist, the other a 
Protestant. Finally the little Protestant ex- 
claimed, "I would not believe such nonsense/' 
"Yes," replied the little Romanist, "and I 
would not either, but I just have to believe it." 
She believed it whether or no, because she had 
been persistently taught it. The Romish hie- 
rarchy has more care for children under ten or 

124 



Saving the Children 

twelve years of age than for any other class of 
its adherents, unless it is for aged rich people 
whose money it seeks. The result is that the 
children, in spite of their association with 
Protestant children, and in spite of their at- 
tendance on the public schools, become the 
stanch followers of the Church and faith in 
which they have been trained. 

How long shall we be in learning a lesson of 
wisdom from the example that is set before us ? 
It must be confessed that our present Sunday 
schools are not really training schools, where 
the children are indoctrinated in the fundamen- 
tals of Christian faith. The courses of study 
lack the essential elements of continuity and 
definiteness of purpose. They do not have 
clear and pronounced inculcation of our doc- 
trines. They touch here and there upon mat- 
ter of faith, but being interdenominational they 
are decidedly indeterminate, and often vague 
and uncertain. If we wish for a generation of 
intelligent and substantial Methodists we must 
train them carefully in our own doctrines. The 
best way to do this is to teach them our cate- 
chism. We are well supplied with catechisms. 
There is an excellent one by Z. A. Mudge de- 
signed for little children. Then we have Num- 

125 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

bers i, 2, and 3. The doctrines are the same 
in all, only somewhat more fully set forth in 
the numbers as they advance. 

It would be a most blessed thing if the par- 
ents would give an hour or two each week to 
instructing their children in the catechism. 
But whether or not they attend to this duty, it 
is the duty of every pastor to see that the chil- 
dren are not neglected. The Discipline is very 
explicit in regard to this matter. It enumerates 
the duties of every pastor, and among these 
duties it says it is the duty of the pastor, of 
every pastor, "to catechise the children publicly 
in the Sunday school, and at special meetings 
appointed for that purpose, and also privately; 
to report to each Quarterly Conference the ex- 
tent to which he has done this work." If this 
duty were faithfully performed the next gener- 
ation of Methodists would be rooted and 
grounded in the faith, and would not be drawn 
hither and thither by every foolish fad and 
skeptical pretense and conscienceless critic. In 

these days the world needs people w T ith creeds. 

126 



CHAPTER XV 

Sunday School and EpwortH 
League 



CHAPTER XV 
Sunday School and Epworth League 

Father of mercies, in thy word 

What endless glory shines ! 
Forever be thy name adored 

For these celestial lines. 

— Anne Steele. 

O may the gracious words divine, 

Subject of all my converse be; 
So will the Lord his follower join, 

And walk and talk himself with me : 
So shall my heart his presence prove, 
And burn with everlasting love. 

— Charles Wesley. 

Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have 
eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. — 
John v, 39. 

But continue thou in the things which thou hast 
learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom 
thou hast learned them ; and that from a child thou hast 
known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make 
thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in 
Christ Jesus. — 2 Tim. iii, 14, 15. 

For what nation is there so great, who hath God so 
nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things 
that we call upon him for? And what nation is there 
so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous 
as all this law, which I set before you this day? Only 
take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest 
(9) 129 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and 
lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life : 
but teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons. — Deut. 
iv, 7-9- 

Two and a half millions and more are en- 
rolled in the Sunday schools of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. Year by year the number 
increases. Our schools are organized and oper- 
ated in all climes. They thrive beneath the 
Southern Cross. They are planted within the 
Arctic Circle. They are a power for good 
wherever they exist. They inspire and inform 
the intellect. They teach the highest style of 
morals the world has ever known. They en- 
courage, foster, develop, and fructify the divine 
spiritual life in the soul. They are the hope of 
the Church and the world. They must be 
active, potent, and wisely directed in the three 
all-important particulars just mentioned. No 
Sunday school can justify its existence unless 
it has a constant care for the intellectual, moral, 
and spiritual life of those who make up its 
membership. Most of those who are enrolled 
in our Sunday schools are young people, the 
vast majority being under twenty-five years of 
age. They are in the formative period of life. 
They are not fixed, settled, grounded in their 

130 



Sunday School and Epworth League 

opinions, convictions, and habits. They are 
especially susceptible to all influences which 
surround them. They are open to influences 
that are helpful, heavenly, benignant; at the 
same time they are as open to influences that 
are harmful, worldly, malignant. The arch 
enemy of all goodness and of all youth is not a 
careless spectator of our Sunday schools. He 
stands by the threshold of every home and sees 
the young people as they set out for the Sun- 
day school room; he follows them along the 
street, it may be tempting them by the way; 
and most likely he finds a place with the people 
of God even within the sacred walls of the 
Sunday school room. We cannot have the sole 
and unchallenged opportunity to influence and 
direct the minds of our young people. A 
thousand snares and pitfalls beset their path- 
ways ; a thousand bewildering allurements daz- 
zle their wondering eyes; a thousand persua- 
sive voices call them away from the narrow 
path of life, and encourage them to enter the 
broad way that with artful but satanic hands 
has been strewn with what appears to be flow- 
ers as beautiful and fragrant as ever bloomed 
in paradise. Surely it will be no small and 
feeble effort that can hold young souls to the 

131 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

ways of penitence, faith, and holy living when 
they are confronted by all these things that are 
well calculated to touch the deepest sensibilities 
of their natures, and to which all that is within 
them that is earthly, depraved, and sinful so 
naturally and sympathetically responds. 

The only way for our young people to over- 
come in this mighty conflict that comes to all, 
the only way to reach the best results intellec- 
tually, morally, and spiritually, is through re- 
pentance and faith, which ultimate in a sound, 
clear, definite conversion — a conversion that is 
consciously received, and then witnessed to by 
the direct testimony of the Holy Ghost. To 
bring our young people to such an experience 
as this, an experience which involves the idea 
of heart purity, a renunciation of all worldli- 
ness, a devotement of all the powers and facul- 
ties of body, mind, and soul, ought to be the 
constant desire and ambition of every worker 
in all our Sunday schools, from the superin- 
tendent down to the youngest and humblest 
teacher. There must be this desire and am- 
bition, or the work will never be accomplished. 
We find what we seek. We hit the mark at 
which we aim. We accomplish the purpose 
for which we consecrate our lives. Surely we 

132 



Sunday School and Epworth League 

may fail even when we have done our very 

best. But, then, and always, let us say to our 

souls : 

"Fear not; 
For all may have, if they dare try, 
A glorious life or grave. 17 

But in these harvest fields of God it is abso- 
lutely sure that failure can never come to those 
who join themselves to God and are the holy 
and helpful influences of earth and heaven. 
The word of the heavenly Father assures us 
that "He that goeth forth and weepeth, bear- 
ing precious seed, shall doubtless come again 
with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him." 
And Jesus himself says : "He that reapeth re- 
ceiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto eternal 
life." The double promise makes it sure that 
"we cannot toil in vain.' ? 

In every Sunday school in our Church there 
ought to be a revival every year. Such a con- 
summation ought to be expected, and prepara- 
tions for it ought to be made with as much 
method and forecast as the farmer gives to the 
production of his crops. The farmer has the 
divine promise that seedtime and harvest shall 
never fail. All workers for souls have prom- 
ises just as sure, and as often verified in all 

133 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

parts of the world and in all ages of the 
Church, that spiritual harvests will be gathered 
when God's husbandry comply with the possi- 
ble and easily understood laws and conditions 
of the kingdom of grace. 

That the Sunday school may measure up to 
its opportunity in revival effort it is essential 
that the superintendent should be a truly con- 
verted man. He must be a godly man. He 
must enjoy the sweetness of the Gospel in his 
own soul. He must manifest the fruits of the 
Spirit in his daily life, and especially in his 
intercourse with both teachers and scholars. 
In all these respects every teacher ought to be 
like the superintendent. And, here — pardon 
the word of earnest persuasion — if these words 
should be read by any Sunday school w r orker 
who confesses to his own soul that he does not 
come up to the required standard, I beg of you 
without delay to enter some secret place where 
you may be alone with God, and resolve that 
you will never cease your efforts, never cease 
your prayers and tears, until you are personally 
saved to the uttermost, and graciously filled 
with the Holy Ghost, and so prepared for the 
all-important w 7 ork to which you are called. I 
once knew a most exemplary young teacher 

134 



Sunday School and Ep worth League 

who had a class of fifteen young ladies from 
sixteen to twenty-two years of age, and not one 
of them had ever made a profession of religion. 
They were, like so many young ladies of their 
age, more concerned for worldly pleasure than 
for the eternal interests of their souls. For 
more than a year their teacher had constantly 
been in her place; she was faithful and beloved; 
but month after month passed, and her 
class seemed to be drifting away from God. 
At length the teacher's heart was troubled; she 
could not rest. She asked herself, "How can I 
answer to God for these precious souls ?" A 
time of serious heart-searching followed, in 
which it was revealed to her that she was not 
just right herself. For nearly three weeks she 
cried out for divine help, and at last her prayer 
was heard and answered, and she came into 
the enjoyment of a richer, deeper, clearer, 
sweeter experience of salvation than she had 
ever known. Then there came to her a won- 
derful burden of soul for her class. Night and 
day her prayers went up to God for his help, 
and for the convincing and convicting grace of 
the Holy Ghost. Thus she prayed until two 
weeks had passed, until she had the witness 
that her prayer was answered. She went to her 

i35 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

pastor and told him of her experience and her 
hope that her class would be converted, and 
urged him, at the close of the Sabbath evening 
service, to invite penitents to come forward for 
prayers. The pastor heeded her request; that 
first Sabbath evening three of the young 
women went forward for prayers; a week from 
that time five more of the class went forward; 
and two weeks later the remaining seven were 
at the altar, and the entire fifteen were blessed- 
ly converted, and in due time joined the Church 
on probation, and at the close of their proba- 
tion they were all received into the Church in 
full connection. In the meantime the revival 
spread, and more than a hundred besides the 
fifteen were converted and became connected 
with the Church. 

These are the days of the Sunday school and 
the Epworth League, and no wise pastor will 
neglect, much less ignore, these two most im- 
portant departments of our Church forces when 
he plans a revival campaign. If the officers 
and teachers of the Sunday school, and if the 
young Christians of the Epworth League, con- 
secrate themselves to the active, aggressive 
work of winning souls to Christ they can most 
effectually help on the revival. The pastor 

136 



Sunday School and Epworth League 

ought to keep so thoroughly and constantly in 
touch with the young Christians and Sunday 
school workers that he can certainly count on 
their cooperation. It only needs a little judi- 
cious consultation and consequent agreement 
as to time and method of work, and the Ep- 
worth League and Sunday school will stand 
side by side with the pastor and the official 
board for the prosecution of services that look 
to the salvation of multitudes of precious souls. 
Not by the exercise of authority, nor by com- 
pulsion, never by threats and scolding, can this 
combination of the working forces of the 
Church be secured; but rather by the mani- 
festation on the part of the pastor of the spirit 
of Christ, by tender love for souls, by earnest 
devotion to the work of God, by a supreme 
personal consecration of all powers and facul- 
ties to the rescue of the perishing, and by that 
gracious endowment of power which only 
comes when the soul is baptized with the Holy 
Ghost and filled with his abiding presence. 

O, for the spirit of wisdom and of a sound 
mind on the part of all our preachers, so that 
they may successfully lead the forces of the 
militant Church forth to such victories as shall 
cause joy on earth and in heaven ! O, that they 

i37 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

may never forget that to give efficiency to 
wisest plans and hardest work there is constant 
need of the help and guidance of the Com- 
forter. 

138 



CHAPTER XVI 

Help for tKe Sorrowing and 
Suffering 



CHAPTER XVI 
Help for the Sorrowing and Suffering 

Blest be the tie that binds 

Our hearts in Christian love; 
The fellowship of kindred minds 

Is like to that above. 

Before our Father's throne, 

We pour our ardent prayers; 
Our fears, our hopes, our aims are one, 

Our comforts and our cares. 

— John Fawcett. 

Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with 
them that weep. — Rom. xii, 15. 

Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all com- 
fort; who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we 
may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, 
by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted 
of God. — 2 Cor. i, 3, 4. 

There are suffering people everywhere. 
There are sorrowing people everywhere. 
There are burdened, breaking hearts every- 
where. More than the fortunate and happy 
ever imagine are they who walk life's journey 
with sad and heavy hearts. There are sorrows 

141 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

that come from poverty and sorrows that come 
from sin. There are griefs that burden weary 
souls because of disease and weakness of body, 
and other griefs as great or greater that result 
from the loss of loved ones. To all the smitten, 
suffering, and discouraged the good pastor is 
indeed a son of consolation. Doubtless there 
are numberless records of sin and sorrow and 
suffering, but one is now lying before me that 
has greatly touched my heart. The pastor 
who is giving a report of his work says : "The 
past month has been taken up as follows: I 
have made eighty regular pastoral calls; held 
eight preaching services; attended four ses- 
sions of the Sunday school, and led a Bible 
class ; held after-services following the preach- 
ing on Sunday evenings; attended four weekly 
prayer meetings and two class meetings; 
officiated at several funerals, and been con- 
stant in labors among the sick and poor/' 
Here is a sample of one afternoon's work: 
"Called where the wife and mother of two chil- 
dren is in trouble. The younger child is only 
four weeks old. The father got drunk a few 
nights since, fell in the street, and cut his head 
very badly, was brought home at two o'clock 

in the morning, routed the poor woman up, 

142 



Help for the Sorrowing and Suffering 

while three policemen dragged in the helpless 
sot. She has not slept for three nights, the 
husband in the meantime being only semicon- 
scious. They are poor, and have nothing with 
which to pay rent or purchase food." Another 
family not far from the one just mentioned: 
"Wife and four children, the youngest only a 
few weeks old. The husband drinking up all 
he earns, the mother sick, and the family left 
without the necessities of life." Another fam- 
ily still : "Wife and five children, and all the 
children sick, nothing in the house to eat, no 
means to buy anything; landlord threatening 
to turn the family outdoors; the husband full 
of licensed beer. . . . And so I might take 
you to a score of such families who attend our 
church if they attend any where/ ' 

And all this in this so-called Christian land. 
It is enough to cause the hot blood of right- 
eous wrath to stir every heart that is loyal to 
the Lord Jesus Christ. What an unspeakable 
shame and disgrace that the Christian people 
of this day and generation will tolerate the 
traffic that curses so many homes ! If the 
drink habit is a sin, then it is the duty of all 
good people to remove the temptation to sin. 
If the drink habit is a disease, then the deadly 

143 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

poison that induces the disease ought to be put 
quite out of the reach of the sick. 

These facts in a pastor's experience show us 
that vast, difficult, and most discouraging ob- 
structions lie in the pathway of the faithful 
pastor. If we wait for outside organizations 
to remove them we shall wait in vain. If we 
wait for organizations within the church, our 
waiting will not avail. There is only one sure 
way to do the work of God committed to the 
hands of God's ambassadors — they must do it 
themselves. According to the strength and 
wisdom given them, they must consecrate 
themselves to seeking out the wretched, the 
outcasts, the slaves of sin, and with tender 
sympathy, mighty faith, and tireless love lift 
up and lead to Christ even the most hopeless. 
Such service calls for uttermost devotement, 
self-denial, and self-sacrifice, but in such serv- 
ice the soul will find sweetest fellowship with 
the blessed Christ. The more wretched and 
hopeless the people, the more need of the pas- 
tor's presence, sympathy, and love. The Mas- 
ter alone knows how many and peculiar are 
the duties of the pastor. There must be a con- 
stant and vivid sense of the presence of Jesus 
in order to their performance. 

144 



CHAPTER XVII 

Securing and Caring for 
Converts 



CHAPTER XVII 
Securing and Caring for Converts 

Come to the living waters, come! 

Sinners, obey your Maker's call ; 
Return, ye weary wanderers, home, 

And find his grace is free for all. 

Nothing ye in exchange shall give; 

Leave all you have and are behind; 
Frankly the gift of God receive; 

Pardon and peace in Jesus find. 

— John Wesley. 

Sent by my Lord, on you I call; 

The invitation is to all: 

Come all the world ! come, sinner, thou 1 

All things in Christ are ready now. 

My message as from God receive; 
Ye all may come to Christ and live : 
O let his love your hearts constrain, 
Nor suffer him to die in vain. 

— Charles Wesley. 

I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to 
repentance. — Matt, ix, 13. 

What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he lose 
one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the 
wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he 
find it? — Luke xv, 4. 

Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner 

147 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, 
and shall hide a multitude of sins. — James v, 20. 

And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness 
of the firmament ; and they that turn many to righteous- 
ness, as the stars forever and ever. — Dan. xii, 3. 



One great object of effort on the part of 
every preacher ought to be the conversion of 
sinners. In every community unconverted 
people are to be found. Some of them attend 
religious services, but the vast majority of 
them seldom or never darken the doors of the 
house of God. There are three ways in which 
sinners may be reached. If they attend re- 
ligious services they place themselves under the 
direct influence of the Gospel, and so they are 
within reach of God's people. One way to reach 
those who are not churchgoers is for the Chris- 
tians of any given community to search them 
out from house to house and personally labor 
with them, and persuade them to turn from sin 
and accept Christ. Another way is for the 
pastor to follow the example of the good shep- 
herd who left the ninety and nine sheep gath- 
ered within the fold, and went out to seek for 
the lone wandering member of the flock. And 
it will be remembered that when the lost was 
found it was not driven home, but it was ten- 

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Securing and Caring for Converts 

derly taken up in the arms of the shepherd and 
borne gently to a place of rest and safety. 

In this great work of securing converts the 
pastor must have the active cooperation of his 
people; indeed, he ought to have the loving, 
loyal cooperation of all, from the youngest to 
the oldest. Especially should all unite with 
the pastor in earnest, believing prayer for the 
outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the con- 
version of the unsaved. 

It will be found in eternity that one of the 
greatest spiritual influences ever wrought by 
human agency for the salvation of the souls of 
men is earnest, faithful, effectual prayer. But 
this prayer in behalf of the unconverted and 
unsaved can only be offered by those who have 
a deep personal experience of the divine life. 
The men and women who have been most suc- 
cessful in their supplications have been those 
who have lived nearest to the cross and most 
in conformity to the will of God. If we 
would have access to the throne we must ap- 
proach it with pure hearts and clean hands. 
Then we must be sure that we ask in con- 
formity to the will of God, and in harmony 
with the divine order. We know that it is 

the will of God that all should come unto him 

149 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

and be saved. It is contrary to his will that 
any soul should go down to death. But with 
the power of choice and the exercise of free 
will the sinner can frustrate the grace of God, 
and in spite of divine love and persuasion and 
redemption he can choose death for himself and 
resist successfully all holy influences used for 
his salvation. God will never break down and 
destroy the will, and so unmake the man, to 
save his soul from death. Hence we should 
never pray, and never expect, that a soul may 
be saved except in harmony with the attributes 
with which God has so regally endowed hu- 
manity. If Christians will come to God in 
his own appointed way; if they come, them- 
selves saved with the great salvation, then, if 
the word of Jesus is true, they may ask what 
they will and it shall be done unto them. They 
may also ask in behalf of others, and prayer 
will be heard and answered just as really as 
when the man in the gospel went to his neigh- 
bor's to ask for bread for a friend who had 
come to him on a journey, and similar impor- 
tunate prayer will bring supplies of heavenly 
bread for hungry souls. Real revivals of re- 
ligion take place only as the result of the work 
of the Holy Ghost in human hearts. But the 

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Securing and Caring for Converts 

Lord Jesus Christ, in that most wonderful of 
sermons recorded in John's gospel, tells us 
that when he is gone away he will send the 
Comforter, who shall convince the world of 
sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. This 
means that the Spirit will be given to the un- 
saved in order to enlighten, convince, and per- 
suade them. The Spirit operates on such hearts 
in answer to prayer. Special gifts and graces 
of the Spirit only come in answer to special 
prayer. It is the duty of all God's people to 
call upon him in the name of Jesus to give his 
Spirit in gracious power to visit the hearts of 
the unsaved. The word of the Master is, 
"Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name : 
ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may 
be full." If all members of the Epworth 
League could enter into the rich experience of 
salvation which waits upon their entire con- 
secration and appropriating faith, and if they 
would make united supplication as first indi- 
cated, there would be such revelations of the 
Holy Ghost made in the hearts of the uncon- 
verted as would lead multitudes of them to 
seek and find the Saviour. 

An incident may serve to illustrate. Many 
might be given, but one must suffice. 

151 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

Years ago it was my privilege to read the 
manuscript diary of one of the saints. I 
knew the writer well in her old age, when, 
weak and feeble, and past threescore years 
and ten, she lingered on earth to bless all who 
knew her. In early life she gave her heart 
to God, and for many years she kept a diary, 
and after her death I had the opportunity of 
reading it. 

This good woman lived in a retired though 
thriving town in New England, in which at 
the time of her early life there was only one 
Church. While glancing along the pages of 
the diary I noticed mention made of the fact 
that she and two or three other women had 
been conversing together in regard to the spir- 
itual dearth and low state of religion that 
prevailed in the Church and community. 
Looking along, I saw that these same good 
women had covenanted together to pray for a 
revival, and were to meet from week to week 
at each other's homes to hold a prayer meet- 
ing for the same purpose. Within three 
weeks the entry was made that the preacher 
had been unusually earnest, tender, and im- 
pressive, and the sermon had carried with it 
great spiritual influence. Manifestly, God's 

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Securing and Caring for Converts 

Spirit, in answer to prayer, had reached the 
pastor's heart, and the revival had commenced 
right there, and surely it could commence in 
no better place. Then, as I glanced along the 
pages, I saw that special meetings were ap- 
pointed, and then followed the record of 
awakenings and conversions, and baptisms 
and additions to the Church. God's work had 
been revived, and I could not escape the con- 
viction that it had been brought about largely 
through the instrumentality of these few de- 
voted and faithful women. And so I looked 
on through the diary until I had found the 
records of five distinct and separate seasons 
of revivals in this one Church; and each of 
them had been preceded by this combination 
of effort and prayer on the part of these same 
women. 

It does not take the action of the whole 
membership of any given Church to secure 
revival. Let every sincere follower of Jesus 
note and remember this. The enemy of all 
righteousness has often hindered the faith of 
God's humble and diffident children, and has 
as often crippled or defeated their efforts, by 
making them believe that all the members of 
the Church must be living near to God and 

IS3 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

filled with his Spirit before a revival can be 
hoped for. No greater delusion was ever 
entertained, no worse snare was ever spread 
in the path of God's children. It is the smok- 
ing flax and the bruised reed that God remem- 
bers and cares for. So, if in any church there 
is a soul, however weak, that yet has one sin- 
gle spark of grace, and in response to sincere 
desire and prayer the divine breath shall come 
to that soul, where is hidden the slumbering 
spark, even then and there the revival has 
commenced. If the heavenly flame thus kin- 
dled shall be cherished and tended, soon a re- 
sponsive heart will begin to blaze, and so the 
work will go on until many will sing : 

"See how great a flame aspires, 
Kindled by a spark of grace !" 

Then faith cries out: 

"To bring fire on earth he came; 

Kindled in some hearts it is : 
O that all might catch the flame, 

All partake the glorious bliss !" 

Then, joyful, trusting, toiling, waiting souls 
will exclaim : 

"Saw ye not the cloud arise, 

Little as a human hand? 
Now it spreads along the skies, 

Hangs o'er all the thirsty land; 
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Securing and Caring for Converts 

Lo ! the promise of a shower 

Drops already from above; 
But the Lord will shortly pour 

All the Spirit of his love." 

But work must be conjoined with prayer 
and faith. When all gifts and graces have 
been received, and when prayer has been of- 
fered in behalf of the unconverted, there yet 
remain as the duty of every Christian direct 
and personal labors for the salvation of the 
unconverted. The real enjoyment of religion, 
the witness of the Spirit, the baptism of the 
Holy Ghost, all imply that there is contem- 
poraneous with these, and concomitant with 
these, a holy and unblamable, life. There 
must be this holy life, or the unconverted will 
have no real confidence in the genuineness of 
the profession of religion made with the lips. 
If any Christian, young or old, lead a pure, 
upright, and holy life, such life is a convin- 
cing and unanswerable argument for the reality 
and excellence of the Christian religion, and at 
the same time it exerts a powerful influence 
upon all who are its subjects. It must be 
noted that all this involves the idea that 
worldliness, and frivolity, and pleasure-seek- 
ing, and, in fact, everything that is out of 
harmony with the best type of religious ex- 

155 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

perience, must be laid aside. But this must 
be done by everyone who wishes the richest 
experience of divine blessing, the greatest 
spiritual influence, and the highest success in 
winning souls to Christ. 

It would be exceedingly profitable for all 
members of the Epworth League if they could 
select from among their most intimate un- 
converted friends a few, say five or ten, more 
or less, and write down their names, and then 
mention each one of these names daily in 
prayer, and plead with God for Jesus' sake to 
send the Spirit with convincing power to each 
one of these precious souls; and it would help 
in this if two or three of our young Leaguers 
should combine their lists and covenant to- 
gether to make special supplication for the 
unsaved loved ones. They might well re- 
member the promise of the Saviour, "that if 
two of you should agree on earth as touching 
anything that they shall ask, it shall be done 
for them of my Father w 7 hich is in heaven." 
But after all has been done, and all prayers 
have been offered, there will remain the 
duty of going to the unsaved and pleading 
earnestly and perseveringly, and yet very 
tenderly, with them to give themselves to 

156 



Securing and Caring for Converts 

Christ. There must be care and wisdom in 
this work, or it will be all in vain. The time 
and place are all-important. In almost every 
case it is better to take the unconverted sepa- 
rately and alone, rather than in company, seek 
a quiet hour free from all distractions, study 
the moods and the temperament, never unduly 
urge, never lose faith or patience, never be dis- 
couraged, ask the guidance and help of the 
Holy Spirit. Of course Epworth Leaguers 
ought to be very faithful in their attendance 
upon all the means of grace, and they ought to 
bear the cross, in giving in their testimony 
and in vocal prayer in the social meetings, but 
above and beyond all this they must live holy 
lives, and they must engage in this direct per- 
sonal effort. Let them always remember that 
"he that reapeth receiveth wages and gather- 
eth fruit unto life eternal ;" that "he that 
goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious 
seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoi- 
cing, bringing his sheaves with him." 

If our young people of the Epworth League 
will fully give themselves up to the Lord and 
his work revivals will become perennial, and 
the harvest time will last all the year. "They 
that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the 

157 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

firmament, and they that turn many to right- 
eousness as the stars forever and ever." 

If preacher and people will search out the 
unsaved, whether in the congregation or by 
the wayside, whether in the byways and 
hedges, or in the Sabbath schools, or wherever 
they may be found, and then tell them per- 
sonally of the peril of sin, the need of repent- 
ance and faith, the love of Christ, the willing- 
ness of God to bless and save, and especially 
tell them of the joy, the love, the peace, the 
comfort, and the blessed hopes of the Christian 
life, converts will be secured. 

It is not enough that we secure converts. 
We must care for them. The first thing to be 
done is to have them unite with the church. 
This is said on the assumption that they are 
really converted and have found Christ in the 
pardon of their sins. It is not wise to urge 
awakened souls to join the church, much less 
is it wise to urge those to do so who in a 
moment of excitement have felt that they 
ought to turn from sin. The reason why so 
many probationers fail to become full members 
of the church is because many join on proba- 
tion who have not been converted. An awak- 
ened soul ought to be watched over and aided 

158 



Securing and Caring for Converts 

until a clear and definite experience is attained. 
Then wise and careful effort should be made 
to secure the names of all such for member- 
ship on probation. In this work the pastor 
must take an active part. He should know all 
converts. He should make himself their friend 
and adviser. But in all this he should be as- 
sisted by class leaders, and other officials of 
the church, and in fact by all the church mem- 
bers. The newborn soul ought to be received 
with a warm welcome, and should be made to 
feel that in coming into the church it has come 
to a glad company of the great family of God's 
people. The average church member can 
scarcely realize how much encouragement can 
be given to any young convert by a warm 
grasp of the hand and a cheerful word. 

Lord of the living harvest 

That whitens o'er the plain, 
Where angels soon shall gather 

Their sheaves of golden grain; 
Accept these hands to labor, 

These hearts to trust and love, 
And deign with them to hasten 

Thy kingdom from above. 

As laborers in thy vineyard, 

Send us, O Christ, to be 
Content to bear the burdens 

Of weary days for thee; 
159 



The Why, When, and How of Revivals 

We ask no other wages, 
When thou shalt call us home, 

But to have shared the travail 
Which makes thy kingdom come. 

Come down, thou Holy Spirit! 

And fill our souls with light, 
Clothe us in spotless raiment, 

In linen clean and white; 
Beside thy sacred altar 

Be with us, where we stand, 
To sanctify thy people 

Through all this happy land. 

— /. S. B. MonselL 

Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, 
and to present you faultless before the presence of his 
glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our 
Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, 
both now and ever. Amen. — Jude 24, 25. 

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